Torchwood: After the Fall
by OneAsBeautifulAsYou
Summary: Torchwood Three has fallen - only two remain. Somewhere far across the stars is the Doctor, mourning the loss of a human girl who was so much more. He couldn't see Earth's pain through his own. But something else did... The end is where we start from.
1. Prologue

_**Prologue**_**  
**

_Torchwood. Outside the government beyond the police. To protect Earth and the human race. The 21__st__ Century is when everything changes. And we weren't... we aren't ready._

Torchwood Three has fallen. A shadow looms over Cardiff, Wales. The city itself mourns the loss of its saviours. Owen Harper, deceased. Toshiko Sato, deceased. Ianto Jones, deceased. Only two remain. Gwen Cooper and Captain Jack Harkness. A lost little girl who feels she cannot carry on, and a man who has forever to live in grief.

Somewhere far across the stars is the Doctor, mourning the loss of a human girl who was so much more. The girl who held the time vortex in her head and survived. Gone, never to return. The Doctor did not turn away from the Earth in shame - he didn't see its pain through his own. But someone else, something else, did.

Everything happens for a reason, and everyone knows: "The end is where we start from."


	2. Chapter 1:  Running

**DISCLAIMER:** I own nothing other than the plot.

**A/N:**

This has been a pet project of mine for a while. If any of you have read my other stories, this one is probably one of the reasons for the long waits between chapters on the others.

I am a huge fan of Doctor Who, and anything involved – Torchwood especially, however some things from the shows I have found both frustrating and upsetting. I hated the way certain events turned out, and I hated that they turned out the way they did despite that they could be so easily (and realistically) changed within the parameters of the show. Now, I may be confusing you in so many ways, but I just wanted to say that this is my way of putting things right.

This is story is an AU Torchwood series 4 story, set from the end of the Children of Earth, and movie forward in time from there (more or less – it's never exact . Wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey stuff, you know...) It also has certain Doctor Who ties, but I will note those when they appear in a chapter. For this chapter, all you have to worry about is the Doctor Who episode 4.18 – The End of Time.

Now... on to the story. FINALLY

* * *

**_Chapter 1 - Running_**

"First Tosh and Owen, now Ianto," Gwen says. "Death comes early to the people at Torchwood, doesn't it? I should have known. I did know. But it was never real." Jack swallows painfully at the mention of their fallen friends. Gwen tries to push down her tears.

"I can't do this anymore Jack. I'm pregnant. I won't do that to Rhys, to myself or to our child. I can't. You always say 'The 21st century is when everything changes' and I know those changes are starting. I have to be near my family when the world falls to pieces. "

"Your family comes first. I won't ask you to risk that." Jack nodded, "Besides, we don't exactly have a Hub anymore, do we? Go home."

"Goodbye." Gwen leaned up, kissed Jack on the cheek, and then walked away. She didn't look back. Jack waited until she was out of sight to break. He gave a shout and then kicked the wall beside him, freezing when he thinks hears a voice call his name. 

_Jack... Jack..._

"Who's that?" Jack looked around. Nobody was there. He runs a hand through his hair.

"I have to get out of here. I'm going crazy. This whole city's like a graveyard." So Jack runs. He tries not to look back. For six months, he travels as far from Cardiff as he can. But Earth isn't big enough to leave the memories behind.

In the spring, he sees Captain John Hart. They're in a bar in Singapore, and they catch eyes across the room. And nothing happens. John is with a girl – tall, gorgeous, etc. So Jack watches them. They seem happy, and Jack notices that John is totally focused on her. It's rare to see him like that, and Jack silently wishes them luck. He realizes that it may be naive but he wants them to be happy.

He meets up with Martha and Mickey too after a while, for their wedding of all things. It turns out that even the fact that Martha had a ring on her finger didn't stop Mickey-the-idiot from going after her. Surprise, surprise. Dr. Tom was soon out of the picture, and the engagement of Martha Jones and Mickey Smith came soon after that. The wedding guests - soldiers and government people remind him of why he's running. There were soldiers there too, when the 456 came.

After six months, Cardiff spreads out below them - buildings and roads marked by bright lights, as Gwen and Rhys walk up the hill. They hold hands, pausing halfway up to see Jack standing at the top, wearing his coat as usual. Gwen forced a laugh as she and Rhys finish walking up to meet him.

"Couldn't have just chosen a pub, could you?" Gwen jokes good-naturedly. He can see through her. She's just as sad as he is.

"It's bloody freezing. My feet," Rhys complains, not quite so cheerfully. He's trying to break the awkward situation.

"Oh, I missed that, the Welsh complaining," Jack smiles, but his smile doesn't quite reach his eyes. He looks sad, turning to Gwen and saying, "You look good."

Gwen rolls her eyes. "I look huge." She says, but her hand finds her way to her stomach and a smile creeps onto her face.

"She's bloody gorgeous," Rhys interrupts. Jack smiles at that, almost wistfully, as Gwen approaches him.

"You OK?" She asks, and touches Jack's collar as if to neaten it.

"Yeah." Jack lies. Another smile – sad eyes look at Gwen.

"Did it work?" She asks, hoping, but not really believing.

"Travelled all sorts of places. This planet is too small. The whole world is like a graveyard." Jack replies, echoing what he said six months before about Cardiff.

"Come back with us." Gwen pleads, though she knows that it is no use. He's still running, like his Doctor.

"Haven't travelled far enough yet." Jack replies, as Gwen knew he would. "Got a lot of dirt to shake off my shoes. And right now, there's a cold-fusion cruiser surfing the ion reefs just at the edge of the solar system, just waiting to open its transport dock." As he speaks, Jack looks up at a light winking in the sky high above them. Then he returns his gaze to Gwen. Rhys scoffs, and stares at his feet.

"I just need to send a signal," Jack says, going to do just that. Gwen holds up a finger, asking for him to wait as she digs in her pocket, searching for something. A second later, she produces Jack's wriststrap.

"They found it in the wreckage," She says. "Indestructible. Like its owner." She gives it to him, and Jack places it on his wrist. It settles there, looking for the entire world as if it had never been gone.

"I, eh, put on a new strap for you." Gwen says hesitantly, even though the strap looks the same as always – slightly worn and marked by old use.

"Cost me fifty quid, that!" Rhys butts in.

"Bill me!" Jack quips. A silence fills the air, awkward in that nobody quite knows what to say. Or rather, they know what they SHOULD say, but not what they want to – or need to.

"Are you ever coming back, Jack?" Gwen finally asks, a pained look crossing her face. She may have left Torchwood, but that doesn't mean she left all of the pain behind. Jack looks stone-faced as he answers Gwen's question with one of his own.

"What for?"

"Me." Gwen chokes out, begins to get teary-eyed. Rhys puts an arm around her shoulder, and she leans into him. When Jack doesn't answer, she continues. "It wasn't your fault."

"I think it was." He responds immediately.

"No."

"Steven and Ianto and Owen and Tosh and Suzie and... All of them. Because of me." His voice sounded as if his heart was breaking all over again. Jack was trying desperately to hold himself together.

"But you, you saved us. Didn't you?" Gwen points out, grasping for some sliver of hope that she needs to find.

"I began to like it." He means his life in Cardiff – his job as leader of Torchwood Three. "And look what I became. Still. I have lived so many lives. It's time to find another one." He steps back from Gwen and lifts his wrist strap. He presses a button and it begins to send a continuous beep. His wrist strap won't work as for time travel anymore, nor for teleports either, but it can still send a signal. She tries again, one final time, to get through to him. To get him to stop running.

"Th-they died, and I am sorry, Jack, but you cannot just run away. You cannot run away." Even as she says the words, the teleportation field begins to shimmer over Jack.

"Oh, yes, I can." He says, "Just watch me." And then he's gone, shooting upwards in a a shimmering ball of light. A moment later, the light shines even more brightly from the sky, and then winks out. Gwen looks up and stands there crying, both for her pain and Jack's, as Rhys walks up behind her. Gwen puts her face in her hands, and gently leans into Rhys' side.

"Let's go home, yeah?" Gwen turns to Rhys, still crying.

"Yeah. Yeah." She looks up again, her hands still folded, and then turns and walks away with him, his arm around her shoulders. She looks back, once, but then continues walking with Rhys, leaning on him, him patting her back as they make their way down the hill towards the cold, twinkling lights of Cardiff.

* * *

Some long amount of time (a month) later, Jack finds himself in a bar on an alien planet. He's tired of running, but is still afraid to look back. For now, he'll settle for the drink in his hand. As Jack stares into his glass, he is then handed a note by the bartender. It is from the Doctor. Jack looks up and sees him, across the bar. The note tells Jack that the name of the man sitting beside him is Alonso. Jack looks again at the Doctor. He looks sad, almost as if he's saying goodbye. Jack is given a salute, gives one in return, then turns to Alonso.

"So Alonso..." Jack says with a smirk "Goin' my way?" Sex - another way to forget.

"How do you know my name?" Alonso asks, shocked and surprised.

"I'm kind of psychic" Jack says as his smirk grew.

"Really?" Alonso asks.

"Yeah" Jack laughs.

"Know what I'm thinking right now?" Alonso tests him, thinking exactly the same thing as Jack had just been.

"Oh, yeah."

The next day saw Jack sneaking out of the room before Alonso woke up. He should feel guilty. He doesn't. He hasn't been letting himself feel much of anything but the drink in his hand lately. He has spent 7 months running. He was alone.

But something is watching over him, something that saw his pain. The pain of the entire world.

The Bad Wolf looks on the earth and thinks to herself...

"This is not what I dreamed."


	3. Chapter 2: Leaving and Loss

**DISCLAIMER:** I own nothing other than the plot.

**A/N: **

Chapter 2! This is story is an AU Torchwood series 4 story, set from the end of the Children of Earth, and movie forward in time from there (more or less – it's never exact . Wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey stuff, you know...) It also has certain Doctor Who ties, but I will note those when they appear in a chapter. For this chapter, spoilers are for the Doctor Who episode 4.11 – Turn Left, and 4.12 - The Stolen Earth. This chapter is a set up for the next one, and as such is mostly a recap of the episodes. Next chapter, changes start to appear.

Review please!

* * *

**Chapter 2 – Leaving and Loss, or History as they Know It...**

Stop. Enough. This isn't what we dreamed.

Rewind. To before this pain. To before the Journey's End, where the universes were collapsing and the timelines converged on one girl. A temp from Chiswick – nothing special, but everything special. But our story begins further back than that. To when she turned left. To when she was told to turn right.

* * *

It's the planet Shan Shen - alive with colour and people. In once particular alley, decorated with banners and choked by stalls, the Doctor and Donna are walking. A fortune teller approaches Donna. She goes to have her fortune told. It was a mistake that nearly destroyed the universe.

The fortune teller spoke to Donna, hypnotizing her. "You turned left. But what if you turned right, what then?

" What if it changes, what if you go right, what if you could still go right… "

"Make the choice again, Donna Noble, and change your mind... turn right. "

"Turn right, and never meet that man. Turn right, and change the world!" So she did. A beetle crawled on her back, and the world did change.

* * *

It was horrible. The Doctor was dead – died defeating the Racnoss. Sarah Jane Smith and Martha Jones were killed during the incident with the Judoon at the Royal Hope Hospital on the moon. Millions died in the United States because of the breeding of the Adipose, and the Torchwood team die while preventing a Sontaran invasion. London was destroyed in a nuclear explosion caused by the crash of the space cruiser, Titanic. The military took over, seeing that so many people from London and the South East were displaced. Donna was one of those.

Donna lived in this word, unaware of anything that happened in the correct timeline. People notice the invisible beetle, but Donna can't see it. She met a girl, running runs into her many times. The girl tells Donna about their roles in the Doctor's life, and explains that Donna had saving the universe. Warns her that the darkness is coming. Donna, of course, refuses to believe her. Then Donna's grandfather, sees the stars go out.

So Donna agrees. To turn back the clock, to turn left. Even though she will die. UNIT helps, for once. They show her the beetle, and tell her how to stop it. So she does. She goes back. It's the day, and the time, but Donna is too far away from where she needs to be. She'll never make it. So she does what she can. She steps out into the street. She gets hit, but the car turns left. As she dies, Rose is there, whispering two words into her ear.

* * *

She wakes up. The beetle falls off. The fortune teller runs, scared, and the Doctor is there. Donna remembers nothing. All is the way it was when Donna entered the room. The Doctor finds the dead beetle. He realizes that Donna's actions inadvertently created a parallel universe, despite the fact that the parallel universes are closed off. She's so special, but so ordinary.

His remarks trigger Donna's memory of Rose. Donna repeats her final words:

_Bad Wolf_

The Doctor runs. All around him, _Bad Wolf_.

He enters the TARDIS. The cloister bell is ringing. The end of the universe is coming. The Stolen Planet, the Journey's End. The Doctor knows. The walls of the universes are collapsing - something is wrong. But Rose, trapped in a parallel universe and lost to the Doctor forever, is coming back. And that's brilliant.

* * *

Then Earth is gone. One moment it is there, the next… Gone. It's impossible, but it's true. The Earth has been moved, and now sits in a different part of the sky, surrounded by different planets. The Doctor must ask for help, but his friends are taken. The Shadow Proclamation must step in, as the Daleks invade Earth.

27 planets taken. Callufrax Minor. Jahoo. Shallacatop. Woman Wept. Clom. Pyrovillia. Adipose 3. The Lost Moon of Poosh. And more. Taken, and rearranged. An engine - a powerhouse. Earth is chaos. The Valiant's down, the Air force retreating over North Africa, Daleks landing in Japan. Project Indigo and the Osterhagen Key must come into play.

And at the Shadow Proclamation, Donna waits. A heartbeat echoes in her head.

A servant approaches, and offers her water. "I'm so sorry for your loss."

"Yeah. My whole planet's gone." Donna says, smiling weakly.

"I mean the loss that is yet to come. God save you." Then the servant is gone. Oh, terrible prophecy.

* * *

"We shall see." A voice echoes.

* * *

The bees were disappearing on Earth. A sign of what was to come, but nobody took notice. They were going home, but they left a trail - a path leading in the right direction. The Doctor and Donna find it, and the Shadow Architect speaks.

"The planets were stolen with hostile intent. We are declaring war, Doctor. Right across the universe. And you will lead us into battle!"

So the Doctor runs. With Donna, he follows the trail in the TARDIS.

* * *

Back on Earth, the Daleks are rounding people up. If they try t fight back, they are EXTERMINATEd. Donna's family is in danger, but out of the night Rose appears. She saves them, but she needs their help too.

Harriet Jones, Former Prime Minister, comes from nowhere. The Subwave Network - A sentient piece of software, programmed to seek out anyone and everyone who can help to contact the Doctor. Undetectable. Bringing together Harriet Jones, Torchwood, Sarah Jane Smith, Martha Jones, and (unseen, and unheard) Rose Tyler. The Doctor's secret army.

They call the Doctor. The whole world (because of Mr. Smith). Billions of phones, calling out, all at once! A signal. The Doctor finds it, but the Daleks find it too. The Doctor locks on. The Subwave Network is transferred Network to Torchwood.

* * *

"...tell the Doctor from me... he chose his companions well." Harriet Jones says. The Daleks enter.

"Harriet Jones. Former Prime Minister."

"Yes, we know who you are."

"Oh, you know nothing of any human. And that will be your downfall."

"EXTERMINATE!" She dies.

* * *

The Doctor is travelling through time. One second in the future. Then one by one, the lost planets appear around the TARDIS. The entire Medusa Cascade has been put a second out of sync with the rest of the universe. Perfect hiding place, tiny little pocket of time. But the Doctor and Donna found them.

"Oh, oh, what's that? Hold on, hold on, some sort of Subwave Network..." The Doctor says.

And with that, the Subwave Network appears on the TARDIS monitor, the Doctor and Donna where Harriet used to be. Donna's family can see her, but she can't see them.

"Where the hell have you been? Doctor, it's the Daleks!" Jack shouts, relieved but angry.

"It's the Daleks, they are taking people to their spaceship" That was Sarah Jane.

"...it's not just Dalek Caan!" Martha chips in.

"Sarah Jane! Who's that boy? That must be Torchwood. Aren't they brilliant? Look at you all, you clever people!" The Doctor exclaims, looking the people on the screen.

"That's Martha." Donna says, recognizing her from their earlier adventures with The Sontaran Strategy, The Poison Sky, and The Doctor's Daughter. "And who's... he?" She asks pointing at Jack.

"Captain Jack." The Doctor sighs. "Don't. Just... don't."

"It's like an outer space Facebook." Donna comments lightly.

"Everyone except Rose..." The Doctor says quietly.

* * *

On the other end, unseen, Rose is torn apart by the fact that she can't get in touch. "Doctor, it's me," she whispers "I came back." But he doesn't hear.

* * *

On the Dalek ship, someone has taken notice of the Doctor's arrival.

"He is here. The Dark Lord is come." Says Dalek Caan, giggling. Davros responds, turing to Dalek Supreme and asking: "Supreme one, this Subwave Network, I would address it, give me access." The screen in the TARDIS turns to white noise. The Doctor and Donna panic.

"Ah..." The Doctor.

"We've lost them!" Donna.

"No, no, no, no, there's another signal coming through, there's someone else out there." The Doctor says, fiddling with controls. "Hello? Can you hear me?" He whacks the top of the monitor. "… Rose?" he adds hopefully.

"Your voice is different. And yet, its arrogance is unchanged." Davros speaks. Though the screen is still all white noise, the Doctor freezes, recognizing the voice. He's not the only one who does.

"No. But he's dead... Sarah Jane gasps, horrified. Terrified."

Davros appears on the screen."Welcome to my new Empire, Doctor. It is only fitting that you should bear witness to the resurrection, and the triumph, of Davros. Lord and creator of the Dalek Race!" The Doctor is breathing heavily, speechless, terrified.

"Doctor?" Donna ask worriedly.

"Have you nothing to say?" Davros inquires.

"Doctor, it's all right." Donna reassures him, "We're-we're in the TARDIS. We're safe."

"But you were destroyed." The Doctor states. "In the very first year of the Time War. At the Gate of Elysium. I saw your command ship fly into the jaws of the Nightmare Child. I tried to save you."

"But it took one stronger than you." Davros retorts,"Dalek Caan himself."

"I flew into the wild and fire, I danced and died a thousand times."Dalek Caan adds in a sing-song voice.

"Emergency Temporal Shift took him back into the Time War itself." Davros explains.

"But that's impossible!" The Doctor shouts in disbelief, "The entire War is time-locked!"

"And yet he succeeded." Davros replies mockingly "Oh, it cost him his mind. But imagine, a single, simple Dalek succeeded where Emperors and Time Lords have failed. A testament, don't you think, to my remarkable creations?"

"And you made a new race of Daleks?"

"I gave myself to them. Quite literally. Each one grown from a cell of my own body." Davros opens his tunic to reveal that his flesh is ripped off, his ribs and heart are visible. "New Daleks. True Daleks. I have my children, Doctor. What do you have, now?"

"After all this time. Everything we saw... everything we lost... I have only one thing to say to you... " The Doctor says gravely, before suddenly switching to a cheery tone, "Bye!" He pulls a lever and the TARDIS flies off towards the Earth.

* * *

"Emergency!" The Supreme Dalek states, about as panicked as a Dalek can get,"Locate the TARDIS! Find the Doctor!"

"He will go to the Earth to find his precious Human allies!" Davros replies calmly.

"And death is coming." Dalek Caan giggles madly "Oh, I can see it. Everlasting death for the most faithful companion!"

"Subwave Network rerouted. New location - Torchwood." A Dalek reports.

"Then exterminate them, at once!" orders the Supreme Dalek "Exterminate Torchwood!"

* * *

"Gwen, Dalek saucer heading for the Bay." Ianto Jones says "They've found us."

But Jack is on the phone and doesn't hear. While Jack talks, Ianto helps him into his coat. He hangs up, and Gwen hands him his gun. Jack knows nothing about the Daleks heading for the Hub.

"I've gotta go, I've gotta find the Doctor. I'll come back. I'm coming back!"

"Don't worry about us." Gwen says "Just go."

"We'll be fine." Ianto adds.

"You'd better be!"

He teleports. He leaves. As Jack always does for his Doctor. The Hub shakes. The Daleks make their way inside. The Daleks can be heard above them as Gwen and Ianto wait for death to arrive.

"They're here..."

* * *

Sarah Jane Smith. She goes too. Her son protests.

"But there are Daleks out there!"

"I know, I'm sorry, but I have got to find the Doctor..." SARAH JANE responds, hugging him. "Don't move, don't leave the house, don't do anything."

"I will protect the boy, Sarah Jane." The Zylock, Mr. Smith adds.

"I love you. Remember that." Sarah Jane whispers, looking at her son. She runs to her car and drives off.

* * *

Rose Tyler. She travelled across universes to get back to the Doctor. So she goes too.

"Control? I need another shift. Lock me onto the TARDIS. Now!" She hangs up and turns to Wilf and Sylvia.

"Right, I'm gonna find him. Wish me luck!"

"Oh, good luck!" Donna's mom cries.

"Yeah, good luck, sweetheart!" Donna's grandfather adds. Rose disappears in a flash of blue light.

* * *

And the TARDIS lands. A deserted, post-battle street full of abandoned cars, broken bicycles, scattered rubbish. The Doctor and Donna get out.

"Like a ghost town..." Donna whispers

The Doctor does what he always does. Rambles. "Sarah Jane said they were taking the people. What for? Think, Donna, when you met Rose in that parallel world, what did she say?"

"Just... the darkness is coming."

"Anything else?" The Doctor questions her. Donna looks away, thinking . Then she spots something behind the Doctor. She smiles.

"Why don't you ask her yourself?"

The Doctor turns around. There is Rose. At the other end of the street, but looking at him with a bright smile. The Doctor stares at her. He cannot believe his eyes.

Then Rose starts to run and so does the Doctor. Oblivious to anything but each other. About to be reunited at last. They don't notice the Dalek. It's too late.

"EXTERMINATE!"

It shoots at the Doctor. The Doctor falls.

Jack appears. The Dalek dies. Rose and Donna run to the Doctor. Rose gets there first. She kneels beside him and takes his head in her arms.

"I've got you, it missed you. Look, it's me."

"Rose..." The Doctor says softly, barely conscious but still smiling to see her again.

"Hi."

"Long time no see." The Doctor jokes weakly.

"Yeah, been busy, y'know." Rose smiles, her eyes watery. He yells in pain. Rose panics. She's travelled so far. For so long. Risked so much. Given so much. But he's dying in her arms. And she can't stop it.

"Don't die, oh, my God, don't die. Oh, my god, don't die..." Then Donna and Jack reach them.

"Get him into the TARDIS, quick." Jack shouts "Move!" Rose and Donna support the Doctor. They walk with him to the TARDIS while Jack picks up Rose's gun and covers the way.

* * *

In the Hub, Gwen appears with two machine guns and hands one of them to Ianto.

"But, they don't work against Daleks!" He protests.

"Yeah? Well, I'm going out fighting. Like Owen. Like Tosh. How about you?"

"Yes, ma'am!" He salutes.

* * *

The Doctor is on the TARDIS floor. He groans and shudders in pain. Donna and Rose are beside him. Jack puts down the guns on the seat.

"What - what do we do? There must be some medicine or something!" Donna asks desperately.

"Just step back." Jack warns them. Rose doesn't move from where she is comforting the Doctor. "Rose! Do as I say, and get back! He's dying and you know what happens next."

"What d'you mean?" Donna asks.

Rose is in tears. "Oh, no, I came all this way."

Donna walks to Jack. "What d'you mean? What happens next?" Nobody answers her. The Doctor lifts up his hand and watches it starting to glow.

"It's starting..."

* * *

On the road, Sarah Jane's car is stopped by two Daleks.

"All Human transport is forbidden!

"I surrender! I'm sorry!" Sarah Jane says, terrified.

"Daleks do not accept apologies! You will be EXTERMINATED! EXTERMIUNATE!"

* * *

A Dalek appears in the Hub.

"EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!".

Gwen and Ianto open fire.

* * *

In the TARDIS, Jack pulls Rose away from the Doctor.

"Here we go." He says, "Good luck, Doctor!"

"Will someone please tell me what is going on?" Donna screams.

Rose finally looks at her and replies. "When he's dying, his-his body... it-it repairs itself. It changes." She looks desperately at the Doctor "But you can't!"

He struggles to his feet, panting. "I'm sorry, it's too late. I'm regenerating." It starts.

Jack puts his arms around Donna and Rose as they hide their face from the blinding light. The Journey's End is upon them. Something is coming.

* * *

At the Journey's End something changed. History was set on a new path, and all of time shook with the impact.

But the Bad Wolf sees all.


	4. Chapter 3: Heartbeats and a Golden Glow

**DISCLAIMER:** I own nothing other than the plot.

**A/N: **

Chapter 3. This is story is an AU Torchwood series 4 story, set from the end of the Children of Earth, and movie forward in time from there (more or less – it's never exact. Wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey stuff, you know...) It also has certain Doctor Who ties, but I will note those when they appear in a chapter.

For this chapter, spoilers are for the Doctor Who episode 4.13 – Journey's End. Just a warning, from here on out, the story starts to get AU as changes in time start to appear.

Review please!

* * *

**Chapter 3: Heartbeats and a Golden Glow, or the Crucible**

Orange energy is exploding from the Doctor's skin. He's regenerating. Changing face. A new Doctor.

Then suddenly, he directs this energy at his hand in a jar underneath the TARDIS console. The liquid in the jar bubbles and glows, the energy flowing into it. The Doctor stumbles backwards, breathless - the same man. Donna and Rose stare.

"Now, then. Where were we?" He says cheerfully. He darts back to the console. Donna, Rose and Jack only stand there, stunned.

* * *

Sarah Jane's arms are thrown over her face, waiting for the blow from the Daleks in front of her car.

"Exterminate!" She hears.

Then, out of the blue, Mickey Smith and Jackie Tyler appear in flashes of blue light either side of Sarah Jane's car. They each carry a large gun. Shots ring out. The Daleks are blown apart. Sarah Jane gets out of the car, shakily.

"Mickey...!" she exclaims.

"Us Smiths have got to stick together." He replies, smiling smugly.

"Jackie Tyler, Rose's Mum." Jackie interrupts, "Now, where the hell is my daughter?"

* * *

Ianto and Gwen fire at the Dalek. Gwen is screaming. Ianto's brow is furrowed. Then they stop. They creep forwards. Their bullets have stopped in mid-air. They're just hanging there. Gwen and Ianto approach them in disbelief and amazement. Gwen reaches out with one finger to touch one, but she can't. The air ripples out from her finger as though there's an invisible wall.

* * *

The Doctor gets on his hands and knees before his hand in a jar, which still bubbles and glows. He blows gently onto the jar, and it calms. The Doctor smiles, delighted. Then he gets up.

"You see? Used the regeneration energy to heal myself, but as soon as that was done, I didn't need to change. I didn't want to, why would I?" He tweaks his tie. "Look at me! So, to stop the energy going all the way, I siphoned off the rest into a handy bio-matching receptacle - namely, my hand. My hand, there. My handy spare hand." He stands and turns to Rose. "Remember? Christmas Day? Sycorax? Lost my hand in a sword fight? That's my hand!"

Rose looks slowly from the hand to him, still uncertain.

"What do you think?"

"And... you're still you?" Rose asks quietly, edging towards him cautiously. The Doctor smiles, his eyes twinkling.

"I'm still me. "

They throw their arms around each other. Rose buries her head into his shoulder, eyes squeezed tightly shut in joy. Jack grins, so happy for them.

Donna smiles, then turns to Jack and says jokingly "You can hug me, if you want." Jack laughs.

"No, really, you can hug me." She repeats. Still, the Doctor and Rose cling to one another. The Doctor is beaming. Rose squeezes him tightly.

* * *

Gwen and Ianto are at a computer terminal, investigating the reason for the still frozen bullets.

"It's a time-lock." Ianto recognizes, "The ultimate defence program. Tosh was working on it. Never thought she'd finished it, but she did. The Hub's sealed in a time-bubble. Nothing can get in."

"But that means we can't get out."Gwen realizes.

"Nope. Not without unlocking that Dalek. We're trapped inside... It's all up to Jack, now."

* * *

Four Daleks surround the TARDIS.

"Report: TARDIS has been located."

On the Dalek Crucible, the Supreme Dalek responds.

"Bring it here. Bring the Doctor to me. Initiate temporal prison!"

One Dalek to each corner of the TARDIS, they surround it in a thin hoop of spinning blue light.

"Temporal prison initiated."

* * *

The Doctor, Rose, Jack and Donna are gathered around the console. The power cuts out. THE DOCTOR immediately begins shuffling around the console, trying various buttons.

"They've got us. Power's gone... some kind of chronon loop!"

There's a great crash and the TARDIS tilts dangerously to one side.

* * *

Sarah Jane, Jackie and Mickey creep behind a van, watching the Daleks.

"Transferring TARDIS to the Crucible!" one Dalek states.

The TARDIS is lifted skywards by a circle of blue light, up and away in the direction of the Dalek ship.

"Those teleport things... can we use them? SARAH JANE demands desperately of Mickey. "If they've taken the Doctor to the Dalek spaceship, then that's where we need to be."

MICKEY takes it out of his pocket. "It's not just a teleport, it's a Dimension Jump. Man, this thing rips a hole in the fabric of space."

"But can we use it?" she demands impatiently.

He puts it away. "Not yet, it burns up energy. Needs half an hour between jumps."

"Then, put down your guns." She says.

"What?"

"If you're carrying a gun, they'll shoot you dead." She steps out from behind van, hands raised in surrender. "Daleks? I surrender." She walks towards them, wincing.

"All humans in this sector will be taken to the Crucible!"

"She's bloody mad." Mickey mutters.

" Yeah, but Mickey - if they've got the Doctor, then they've got Rose." Jackie says. She puts her gun down, raises her hands. To the Daleks—"And us. We surrender!" Mickey kisses his gun before throwing it to the ground.

* * *

Martha is at home, adjusting the body-pack that is Project Indigo. To her mom she says "Now Jack's explained the base code, I know how this teleport works. I think. But you just stay indoors. There's no Daleks on this street, you should be all right. Just um... keep quiet."

"Where are you going?" Francine asks.

MARTHA abruptly states "I'm a member of UNIT and they gave me the Osterhagen Key, I've got to do my job." Francine makes towards her, but Martha holds out a hand to stop her. "I'm sorry."

"Martha... what's an Osterhagen Key? Tell me. What does it do?" But Martha can't or won't answer her.

"Love you." Martha whispers tearfully. She pulls down the cords on her body-pack and disappears.

60 miles outside Nuremburg, Martha appears in a dark forest, gasping in fright, the sound of Daleks not too far away. She stands and peers through the trees. The Daleks are gliding ominously though the woods. Martha runs in the opposite direction.

* * *

The TARDIS glides inexorably towards the Dalek ship.

"There's a massive Dalek ship at the centre of the planets." Jack says, "They're calling it the Crucible. Guess that's our destination."

Donna turns to the Doctor. "You said these planets were like an engine. But what for?"

The Doctor remembers, and spins towards Rose "Rose! You've been in a parallel world, that world's running ahead of this universe - you've seen the future, what was it?"

"It's the darkness."

"The stars were going out." Donna remembers.

Rose nods. "One by one. We looked up at the sky and they were just dying. Basically, we've been building this um... this travel machine, this... uh... Dimension Cannon, so I could... well, so I could..."

The Doctor raises his eyebrows. "What?"

Rose looks at him, then says like it's obvious. "So I could come back!"

The Doctor beams and giggles. "Shut up...!" Rose says, blushing. "Anyway, suddenly, it started to work. And the dimensions started to collapse." The Doctor's smile fades. "Not just in our world - not just in yours - but the whole of reality, even the Void was dead. Something is... destroying everything."

"In that parallel world..." Donna interjects. Rose turns to her. "...you said something about me."

"The Dimension Cannon could measure timelines," Rose explains "And it's... it's weird, Donna, but they all seem to converge on you."

Donna is genuinely bemused. "But why me? I mean... what have I ever done? I'm a temp from Chiswick!"

"Because you're special." The Doctor says.

Donna is exasperated. "Oh, I keep telling you: I'm not."

The Doctor looks at he and says simply. "No, but you are, you..." He looks at her as if he's only just realized. "Oh... you really don't believe that, do you?" He gestures his head. "I can see, Donna... what you're thinking. All that attitude, all that lip, 'cos all this time... you think you're not worth it."

"Stop it." She says.

"Shouting at the world 'cos no-one's listening. Well... why should they?"

Donna is starting to get upset. He's describing her feelings like he can see into her soul. "Doctor? Stop it."

But look at what you did..." THE DOCTOR says gently, proud. "No. It's more than that, it's like..." He searches his thoughts. "We were always heading for this."

He remembers. A ball of light, Donna, hurtles towards the TARDIS whilst it is in orbit around a supernova. Donna appears in the TARDIS in her wedding dress.

"You came to the TARDIS."

Inside Adipose Industries, Donna was behind the glass door gesturing to herself excitedly to the Doctor through the window at the opposite side of the office.

"And you found me again."

Wilf saluted.

"Your grandad."

Donna at her car where it is parked near the TARDIS.

"Your car!" With dawning realization, the Doctor continues. "Donna, your car! You parked your car right where the TARDIS was gonna land, that's not coincidence at all!" He spins on the spot, fingers to his temples. "We've been blind! Something's been drawing us together for such a long time."

Donna is breathless "But you're talking like... destiny. But there's no such thing... is there?" A gold flash goes through Rose's eyes, unnoticed.

The Doctor is holding his head, probing his mind. "It's still not finished. It's like... the pattern's not complete. The strands are still joining together. But heading for what?" The computer bleeps. The Doctor looks at the screen.

"The Dalek Crucible. All aboard..."

The TARDIS zooms towards the huge planet-shaped Crucible. The TARDIS lands with a crash.

* * *

"The TARDIS is secured!" A Dalek announces. The Daleks gather around the TARDIS, eyepieces twitching as they watch.

"Doctor! You will step forth or die!" says the Supreme Dalek.

* * *

The Doctor is watching the door. "We'll have to go out. 'Cos if we don't, they'll get in."

"You told me nothing could get through those doors." Rose says, alarmed.

"You've got extrapolator shielding." Jack exclaims.

The Doctor, turning to Rose and Jack, says "Last time we fought the Daleks, they were scavengers and hybrids and mad. But this is a fully fledged Dalek Empire... at the height of its power. Experts at fighting TARDISes, they can do anything." Jack and Rose realize the vulnerability of their position, and their eyes widen with fear.

"Right now, that wooden door... is just wood." Donna stands apart from them, staring straight ahead, not listening because all she can hear is the steady beating of a heart, becoming louder, closer... a gold glow filling her ears.

Jack continues in the background. "What about your Dimension Jump?"

Rose responds, "It needs another twenty minutes, and anyway, I'm not leaving."

The Doctor asks Jack "What about your teleport?"

"Went down with the power-loss."

"Right then. All of us together... yeah." The Doctor says, running his hands through his hair. He notices Donna's lack of interaction. "Donna?"

Donna does not react. She's staring straight ahead, eyes moist, mouth open, head full of the heartbeat. The Doctor goes to her concernedly. The Doctor takes her by the shoulders, snapping her out of the trance.

"Donna."

She starts, then shakes her head and speaks. "Yeah."

"I'm sorry, there's nothing else we can do."

"No, I know." She responds. The Doctor nods, mouths 'okay', and turns to the door.

* * *

"Surrender, Doctor, and face your Dalek masters." Orders the Supreme Dalek.

"Crucible on maximum alert!" a Dalek announces.

* * *

"Daleks." Rose laughs nervously. "Heh!"

"Oh, God!" Jack laughs too. They're both watching the Doctor, so absolutely confident in him. The Doctor looks at them all.

"It's been good, though, hasn't it?" He says. Donna smiles. "All of us... all of it... everything we did..."

He turns to Donna. "You were brilliant." Donna's smile widens. She nods.

The Doctor turns to Jack. "And you were brilliant." Jack grins.

The Doctor looks at Rose. He smiles a special smile, just for her. Her eyes fill with tears. "And you were brilliant." Rose smiles sadly.

The Doctor turns to the door, resigned. Rose and Jack follow him - after a deep breath, Donna makes to follow too. The Doctor steps out of the TARDIS followed by Rose and Jack.

* * *

"Daleks reign supreme!" States the Supreme Dalek, "All hail the Daleks!"

Donna walks slowly to the door and pauses, the heartbeat inside her head again. She sees something gold glint in the corner of her eye. She turns in surprise, and fear, and looks back at the console, but there is nothing there. The heartbeat begins again.

* * *

Outside the TARDIS, the Doctor, Rose and Jack look about themselves at the enormous ship as the Daleks chant.

"Daleks reign supreme! All hail the Daleks! Daleks reign supreme! All hail the Daleks! Daleks reign supreme! All hail the Daleks! Daleks reign supreme! All hail the Daleks!"

The Doctor exhales.

"Behold, Doctor." The Supreme Dalek says, "Behold the might of the true Dalek Race."

"Donna" It's no safer in there..." The Doctor calls over his shoulder. Donna gives herself a small shake, and turns back to the door - it closes. Upon hearing the door slam, the Doctor dashes back to the TARDIS.

* * *

Donna panics and begins banging the door. "Doctor?" She rattles the handle. "What've you done?"

Through the door he shouts, "It wasn't me, I didn't do anything!"

Donna is shouting too. "Oi! Oi, I'm not staying behind!"

The Doctor whirls to the Supreme Dalek, one hand on the door, one hand on the handle. "What did you do?" he demands, his voice desperate, dangerous.

"This is not of Dalek origin." Responds the Supreme Dalek.

Donna bangs on the door and yells. "Doctor!"

"Stop it!" Rose cries.

"She's my friend. Now, open the door and let her out." The Doctor orders.

"This is Time Lord treachery!" Panics the Supreme Dalek.

"Me?' The Doctor exclaims incredulously. "The door just closed on its own!"

"Nevertheless: the TARDIS is a weapon and it will be destroyed."

The TARDIS falls through a trapdoor that opens up underneath it. Donna stumbles about as the TARDIS falls through a long tunnel. The TARDIS shoots down the tunnel.

* * *

The Doctor stares down the trapdoor in horror. "What're you doing? Bring it back!" But the TARDIS falls, gathering speed. Donna hangs onto the railings for support. She calls out for the Doctor.

Urgently, panicking, Jack shouts "What've you done? Where's it going?"

"The Crucible has a heart of Z-Neutrino Energy." Says the Supreme Dalek "The TARDIS will be deposited into the core."

The Doctor, in horror, gasps "But you can't, you've taken the defences down." His voice rises. "It'll be torn apart!"

* * *

The TARDIS shoots out of the tunnel and into the core, which resembles the sun, a burning ball of fire. The lights around the console smash. Donna screams. Small fires spring up around the grilling. The TARDIS sinks further into the energy.

* * *

Rose advances on the Supreme Dalek, gesturing to the trapdoor. "But Donna's still in there!"

"Let her go!" Jack cries angrily.

* * *

Donna is crouched down by the console, emitting small screams and shielding herself from the small explosions and sparks and fire flying all around her.

* * *

"The female and the TARDIS will perish together!" Announces the Supreme Dalek. "Observe. The last child of Gallifrey is powerless."

A holographic screen appears above them - they turn to look at it, the Doctor approaching it with dread as he sees the TARDIS bobbing in the energy. The Doctor watches in horror, powerless indeed. Absolute chaos, sparks flying, glass smashing - the smoke is beginning to choke Donna.

"Please. I'm begging you, I'll do anything!" The Doctor beseeches the Supreme Dalek. He looks from the Dalek to the screen in helpless agitation. Gestures himself. "Put me in her place!"

His face is growing redder. "You can do anything to me, I don't care, just get her out of there!"

* * *

Donna is on her hands and knees beside the console. She coughs and pants as the chaos rages around her. The Doctor watches the scene unravel on the screen in front of him. He breathes heavily, trembling.

* * *

"You are connected to the TARDIS." The Supreme Dalek says gloatingly to the Doctor. "Now, feel it die."

The destruction of the TARDIS continues around Donna, but now she seems strangely immune to it. She stands motionless, the sound of a heartbeat in her ears.

As they watch, Rose and Jack go to the motionless Doctor and take his hands. A Dalek begins a countdown, and a tear tracks down Rose's face. Her eyes glint gold.

* * *

"Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven! Six! Five! Four! Three! Two! One!" The TARDIS flashes gold, then disappears.

"The TARDIS has been been destroyed." Announces the Supreme Dalek. "Now, tell me, Doctor... what do you feel?" The Doctor watches the screen, a dark expression clouding his face. "Anger? Sorrow? Despair?"

"Yeah." The Doctor whispers. Rose looks at him, one of the few people who knows what Donna and the TARDIS mean to him. They share the pain.

"Then, if emotions are so important, surely we have enhanced you." The Supreme Dalek taunts.

"Yeah?" Jack explodes, "Feel this!" He turns and shoots the Supreme Dalek. The bullets bounce off him ineffectually.

"Exterminate!"

The Supreme Dalek sends a death-ray Jack's way and he screams in pain and falls to the floor, apparently dead. Rose falls to her knees beside him in distress.

"Jack! Oh, my God. Oh, no..."The Doctor kneels beside her.

"Rose..." he says softly, so only she can hear. "Come here. Leave him."

"They killed him. And Donna. My friends. Dead…" Rose whispers, looking to the ground. "No. NO!" She shouts, looking up.

* * *

Her eyes blaze gold.

She waves a hand.

The world pauses.


	5. Chapter 4: The Strands of the Universe

**DISCLAIMER:** I own nothing other than the plot.

**A/N: **For this chapter, spoilers are for the Doctor Who episode 4.13 – Journey's End. More AU changes in time appearing now.

Review please!

* * *

_**Chapter 4 -The Strands of the Universe, The Strands of Time  
**_

A gold glow spreads out from Rose, reaching across the Crucible. The Wolf waves her hand, and the TARDIS is saved. The flash of light that caused the TARDIS to disappear spreads out from the console. The gold reaches out, saving and healing the TARDIS. The core calms. The ship shudders to a halt. And the world turns again.

"I am the Bad Wolf" she says to the Supreme Dalek, "And you will die. Everything must come to dust. So must you."

Dalek ships fly towards the Crucible, tiny against it. The Daleks begin to dissolve, coming to dust. Then the Bad Wolf stops.

"You have failed Bad Wolf. The Crucible remains." The Supreme Dalek interrupts. "Take them to the Vault."

* * *

The Daleks place Jack's body into what looks like a circular drawer, which they close. The Daleks leave, taking the prisoners to the Vault. After a moment, Jack forces his way out of the red hot compartment, steaming, coughing, but very much alive.

* * *

The Bad Wolf laughs menacingly.

"Your end is here." She pronounces. Then the TARDIS appears. The Daleks panic.

Under the cover of the confusion, Donna rushes out, then hides quickly behind a post.

"Your turn." The Bad Wolf says to Donna, turning to where she is hidden and smiling. Then the gold is gone.

Rose blinks, and then collapses to the floor of the Vault. The Doctor rushes to help her to her feet.

But Donna does not move. Can not move.

* * *

"Activate the holding cells." Davros orders. Holding cells appear like spotlights over the Doctor and Rose, who are standing a few feet from one another.

"Excellent. Even when powerless, a Time Lord is best contained." DAVROS continues, rolling towards the Doctor.

"Still scared of me, then?" The Doctor mocks. He touches the edge of the holding cell with the palm of his hand - obviously, he cannot get through and it ripples with blue light. Rose does the same. Donna looks about in panic and confusion.

"It is time we talked, Doctor, after so very long-"

"No, no, no, no, no." The Doctor says impatiently, "We're not doing the nostalgia tour. I want to know what's happening right here, right now, 'cos the Supreme Dalek said 'vault', yeah?" The Doctor turns, taking in his surroundings. "As in, dungeon. Cellar. Prison." He turns back to Davros and speaks knowingly. "You're not in charge of the Daleks, are you? They've got you locked away down here in the basement, like, what, a servant? Slave? Court jester?"

"We have... an arrangement." Davros says, interrupting him. The Doctor laughs mockingly.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I've got the word. You're the Dalek's pet!" But Davros moves away from him, to Rose.

"So very full of fire, is he not? And to think, you crossed entire universes, striding parallel to parallel to find him again."

The Doctor speaks in cold anger. "Leave her alone."

"She is mine. To do as I please." Declares Davros, still looking at Rose.

"Then why am I still alive?" She demands.

"You must be here. It was foretold. Even the Supreme Dalek would not dare to contradict the prophesies of Dalek Caan." He presses a button on his control panel, throwing light onto Dalek Caan on his platform.

"So cold and dark. Fire is coming... the endless flames..." Dalek Caan says in a sing-song voice, like reciting a nursery rhyme.

"What is that thing?" Rose asks the Doctor urgently.

"You've met before." He responds, "The last of the Cult of Skaro. But it flew into the Time War, unprotected."

"Caan did more than that." Davros announces, "He saw Time. Its infinite complexity and majesty raging through his mind. And... he saw you. Both of you."

The Doctor and Rose glance at one another.

"This I have foreseen in the wild and the wind." Dalek Caan sings, "The Doctor will be here, as witness, at the end of everything. The Doctor and his precious Children of Time!" He giggles. "And one of them will die...!"

"Was it you, Caan? Why did the TARDIS door close? Tell me!" The Doctor shouts, his voice full of barely contained rage.

Davros is delighted. "Oh, that's it! The end, the fire, the rage of a Time Lord who butchered millions. There he is. Why so shy? Show your companion... show her your true self."

He receives no answer. The Doctor is uneasy. Davros peers at him.

"Dalek Caan has promised me that, too."

"I have seen it." Dalek Caan sings, "At the time of ending, the Doctor's soul will be revealed."

"What does that mean?" The Doctor asks apprehensively.

"We will discover it together... our final journey." Replies Davros. "Because the ending approaches."

"The Reality Bomb." He turns away.

* * *

The Supreme Dalek gives an order.

"Activate planetary alignment field!" Each of the planets becomes bathed in a white glow. The Doctor and Rose watch through the window.

* * *

"It's the planets. The twenty-seven planets." The Doctor realizes. "But that's Z-Neutrino Energy. Flattened by the alignment of the planets into a single stream. No." He turns to Davros in a blind panic. "Davros. Davros, you can't! You CAN'T! NO!"

The glow emanating from the planets brightens. Rose is visibly shaken, but her trust, as always, is with the Doctor.

"Doctor, what's happening?" she asks him desperately

"Electrical energy, Miss Tyler." Davros responds, cutting the Doctor off. The Doctor stares at him, breathing heavily. "Every atom in existence is bound by an electrical field. The Reality Bomb cancels it out - structure falls apart. Full transmission will dissolve every form of matter."

"The stars are going out..." realization dawns on Rose.

"The twenty-seven planets... they become one vast transmitter. Blasting that wavelength across the entire universe. Never stopping. Never faltering. Never fading. People and planets and stars will become dust. And the dust will become atoms and the atoms will become... nothing. And the wavelength will continue, breaking through the Rift at the heart of the Medusa Cascade into every dimension, every parallel, and every single corner of creation. The strands of the universe, the strands of time." Davros says, then his voice takes on an almost hysterical quality. "This is my ultimate victory, Doctor! The destruction of reality itself!"

"Prepare for universal detonation!" The Supreme Dalek shouts. "The fleet will gather at the Crucible! All remaining Daleks will return to shelter from the cataclysm! We will become the only life-forms in existence!"

"It's not over yet, sweetheart." Donna whispers mockingly from her hiding place. A plan is forming in her mind.

* * *

Jackie, Mickey and Sarah Jane are peering through window into the main room of the Crucible. Having escaped when the Daleks that tried to capture them dissolved, they hid. Suddenly, Jack tumbles out of an air vent, making them all spin around. He looks at them. They look at him.

"Just my luck. I climb through two miles of ventilation shafts, chasing life signs on this thing-" Jack gestures to his wristband "-and who do I find? Mickey Mouse!"

"You can talk, Captain Cheesecake." Mickey responds sullenly. Then they burst out laughing and run into a manly hug.

"Good to see ya!" Jack says, looking down at Mickey without letting go. "And that's 'Beefcake'. "

"And that's enough hugging."

Jack releases Mickey and salutes Sarah Jane. "We meet at last, Ms Smith."

Strait to business, Sarah Jane speaks "There is something we can do. You've got to understand - I have a son down there on Earth. He's only fourteen years old. I brought this." From her pocket, she takes what appears to be a diamond necklace - except the diamond shines with unnatural brightness. "It was given to me by a Verron Soothsayer. He said... "this is for the end of days"." She gives it to Jack, who takes it with his mouth slightly open.

"Is that a Warp Star?" Jack asks quietly. Sarah Jane nods.

"Gonna tell me what a Warp Star is?" demands Mickey.

"A warpfold conjugation trapped in a carbonised shell. It's an explosion, Mickey." Jack looks at Sarah Jane. In an awed whisper he continues, "An explosion waiting to happen."

* * *

A holographic screen appears in the bridge of the Crucible.

"Incoming transmission. Origin: planet Earth." One of the few remaining lesser Daleks announces.

"Display." Orders the Supreme Dalek.

"This is Martha Jones representing the Unified Intelligence Taskforce on behalf of the Human Race. Can you hear me?"

"Send transmission to the Vault as well." Orders the Supreme Dalek, "Continue to monitor.

* * *

The holographic screen appears in the Vault as well. Martha's face comes into view.

"This message is for the Dalek Crucible. Repeat: can you hear me?"

"Put me through!"The Doctor demands.

* * *

"It begins as Dalek Caan foretold." Davros' ominous voice says.

"The Children of Time will gather... and one of them will die!" Sing-songs Dalek Caan.

* * *

"Put me through!" The Doctor says, exasperated.

"Doctor! I'm sorry. I had to." Martha says sorrowfully.

"Oh! But the Doctor is powerless - my prisoner." Gloats Davros, "State your intent."

Martha holds an object up to the camera, showing them so they can see it on the screen. "I've got the Osterhagen Key. Leave this planet and its people alone, or I'll use it."

"Osterhagen what? What's an Osterhagen Key?" Asks the Doctor, confused.

"There's a chain of twenty-five nuclear warheads placed in strategic points beneath the Earth's crust. If I use the key, they detonate and the Earth gets ripped apart." She explains, her voice tight.

The Doctor shouts at her, appalled. "What? Who invented that? Well - someone called Osterhagen, I suppose - but Martha, are you insane?"

Martha continues with effort. "The Osterhagen Key is to be used if the suffering of the Human Race is so great, so without hope... that this becomes the final option."

"That's NEVER an option."

"Don't argue with me, Doctor." Martha demands abruptly. "'Cos there's more than that. Now, I reckon the Daleks need these twenty-seven planets for something, but what if it becomes twenty-six? What happens then? Daleks? Would you risk it?

"She's good!" Rose says, impressed.

"Who's that?" Martha asks.

"My name's Rose. Rose Tyler."

"Oh, my God... he found you." Martha whispers, quite overcome with emotion. Happiness for the Doctor to have finally found his Rose, and a little bit of jealousy. This was the girl the Doctor cared about more than anything else in the universe.

The Doctor and Rose exchange a look. They smile.

"We found each other."

* * *

A Dalek interrupts the tender moment. "Second transmission internal."

"Display." Orders the Supreme Dalek once more.

Another holographic screen appears beside the first, this one displaying Jack holding the Warp Star connected to a bunch of wires, and beside him, Jackie, Mickey and Sarah Jane.

* * *

"Captain Jack Harkness calling all Dalek boys and girls! Are you receiving me? Don't send in your goons or I'll set this thing off."

"He's still alive!" screams Rose, amazed. "Oh, my God, that's- that's my mum!"

"Mickey - Captain, what are you doing?" The Doctor asks warily.

"I've got a Warp Star wired into the mainframe." Jack threatens. "I break the shell... the entire Crucible goes up."

"You can't! Where did you get a Warp Star?" The Doctor shouts as if they've all gone completely mad.

"From me." Sarah Jane announces, stepping into the view of the camera. "We had no choice, we saw what happened to the prisoners."

"Impossible. That face... after all these years." Davros says upon seeing Sarah Jane

"Davros," Sarah Jane whispers coldly, furious. "It's been quite a while. Sarah Jane Smith. Remember?"

Davros revels in the meeting. "Oh, this is meant to be. The Circle of Time is closing. You were there on Skaro at the very beginning of my creation."

"And I've learned how to fight since then. You let the Doctor go or this Warp Star - it gets opened!" Sarah Jane retorts.

The Doctor can't look at them. He hates this.

"I'll do it." Jack says, tweaking the necklace threateningly. "Don't imagine I wouldn't."

Rose laughs. "Now, that's what I call a ransom." Then she falls silent, noticing the Doctor's face.

* * *

"And the prophesy unfolds." Says Davros

"The Doctor's soul is revealed!" Dalek Caan cackles. "See him! See the heart of him!"

* * *

Rose watches the Doctor, unable to comfort him from her holding cell - he's standing there, alone, eyes downcast, burdened with unbearable guilt.

Davros looks at Doctor with contempt in his eyes. Then he begins to speak. "The man who abhors violence, never carrying a gun. But this is the truth, Doctor: you take ordinary people and you fashion THEM into weapons. Behold your Children of Time transformed into murderers. I made the Daleks, Doctor. You made this."

"They're trying to help." The Doctor whispers weakly.

"Already, I have seen them sacrifice today for their beloved Doctor." Davros gloats. "The Earth woman who fell opening the subwave network."

"Who was that?"

"Harriet Jones." Rose says. The Doctor stares at her, stunned. "She gave her life to get you here."

"How many more?" Davros asks tauntingly. "Just think. How many have been lost in your name?"

And the Doctor remembers. Rose, her hands losing their hold on a lever. The Controller. Lynda, screaming as she is exterminated. Sir Robert outside Torchwood House. Mrs Moore. Mr Skinner's face in the Absorbaloff. Ursula. Bridget. The Face of Bo's eyes closing one last time. Chantho. Astrid in a forklift. Luke, destroying the Sontarans. Jenny, dying in his arms. River, forcing two cables together. The Hostess and Sky flying out of an airlock. The Doctor stands there, barely holding it together, trembling and utterly broken.

"The Doctor..." Dvaros continues, "The man who keeps running, never looking back, because he dare not, out of shame. This is my final victory, Doctor. I have shown you... yourself." And the Doctor doesn't have an answer.

* * *

"Enough." Says the Supreme Dalek "Engage defence zero-five."

On the screen, Martha is still holding the Osterhagen Key aloft. "It's the Crucible... or the Earth." She says.

* * *

On the bridge, a Dalek announces "Transmat engaged!" Then the transmat snatches Martha from the Osterhagen station in a beam of white light.

"No!" She screams. The Osterhagen Key falls to the floor.

* * *

The transmat takes Jack, Sarah Jane, Mickey and Jackie too.

The Warp Star falls to the ground.

* * *

In the Vault, Martha, Jack, Sarah Jane, Mickey and Jackie pick themselves off the floor.

Jack runs to help Martha up. "Martha! I've got you, it's all right-"

"Don't move! All of you! Stay still!" The Doctor shouts. But Jackie and Mickey and Sarah Jane advance. As the Doctor holds his hand out to stop them, it nudges the edge of the holding cell.

"Guard them!" Davros orders in a panic. "On your knees, all of you. Surrender!"

"Do as he says." The Doctor meekly tells his friends. The Daleks glide around them - after a moment, they obey, kneeling with their hands behind their heads.

"Mum, I told you not to!" Rose whispers under her breath, to her mother.

"Yeah, but I couldn't leave you." Her mother whispers back.

Mickey raises his hands in surrender.

* * *

Davros begins speaking.

"The final prophesy is in place. The Doctor and his children all gathered as witnesses. Supreme Dalek... the time has come!" His voice trembles with what would seem to be excitement.

"Now..." he shouts, pointing upwards.

"Detonate the Reality Bomb!"

* * *

A ghostly laugh, a golden smile.


	6. Chapter 5: It's Alright

**DISCLAIMER:** I own nothing other than the plot.

**A/N: **For this chapter, spoilers are for the Doctor Who episode 4.13 – Journey's End. More AU-ness.

Review please!

* * *

**Chapter 5 - It's Alright, but We're Falling Apart**

The Journey's End. The Children of Time were united. The man who cannot die, the girl who made him that way, her mother, and the idiot, the U.N.I.T doctor, the journalist, and the temp. They risked everything to save the man who brought them together – the Doctor. But it may be too late for them now.

Fleets of Dalek ships are lined up around the Crucible. A door on the side opens to reveal the Reality Bomb.

* * *

"Universal reality detonation in fifty rels!" proclaims the Supreme Dalek.

Davros continues to point a shaking finger upwards, a wild, evil grimace on his face.

"You can't, Davros! Just listen to me! Just STOP!" The Doctor pleads desperately.

On the side of the Crucible, the Reality Bomb glows brighter.

"Nothing can stop the detonation! Nothing! And no-one!" Davros roars with laughter.

"Detonation in twenty rels! Nineteen…"

"Stand witness, Time Lord." Davros announces. "Stand witness, Humans." He activates holographic screen displaying the 27 planets. Mockingly, he continues, "Your strategies have failed, your weapons are useless, and... oh - the end of the universe is come. "

They watch the screen, breathing heavily in dreadful anticipation, utterly powerless.

"Nine... eight... seven... six..."

Slightly breathless, Donna pulls herself upright behind a control panel. It was time for her plan to begin. Throughout the countdown, the company exchange glances, bracing themselves...

"Five... four... three... two... one…"

The bomb powers down, the screen goes dead. An alarm sounds. Daleks, Humans and the Doctor look around in confusion.

Donna speaks with a confidence we've not heard from her before. "Oh... closing all Z-Neutrino relay loops using an internalized synchronous back-feed reversal loop!" She flicks a switch, easy. "That button there!"

"System in shutdown!" A Dalek announces. "Detonation negative."

"Explain! Explain! EXPLAIN!" Supreme Dalek panics.

Rose gasps in shock, surprise and relief "Donna!"

The Doctor is completely bemused, but brilliantly happy. "You're alive! But Donna, what did you do? You can't even change a plug!"

Donna grins. "Do you wanna bet, Time Boy?"

"You will suffer for this." Davros shouts. Donna cocks her head on one side as if she doesn't think so, somehow. She flicks another switch, electrocuting Davros' arm. He shrieks.

"Oh...! Bioelectric dampening field with a retrogressive arc inversion." Donna laughs.

"Exterminate her!" Davros screams furiously.

"EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!"

The Doctor looks fearful but Donna does not seem bothered in the slightest - she merely presses a few buttons, flicks a few switches. And the Daleks power down, their blaster-guns twitch uncontrollably.

"Weapons non-functional!" The Daleks announce.

"What?" Donna gasps playfully, in mock-surprprise. "Macrotransmission of a K-filter wavelength blocking Dalek weaponry in a self-replicating energy blindfold matrix?"

"How did you work that out? You..." THE DOCTOR asks her in amazement.

Donna is loving it. "Part Time Lord, part Human! Oh, yes! That was a biological metacrisis." She remembers being engulfed by golden energy from the TARDIS console. "Half Doctor... half Donna!"

THE DOCTOR realizes, staring at her. "The Doctor-Donna... just like the Ood said, remember? They saw it coming! The Doctor-Donna."

Donna smiles.

"Holding cells deactivated." She says, flicking some switches and watching the holding cells disappear.  
"And seal the Vault. Well, don't just stand there, you skinny boy in a suit - get to work!"

The Doctor dashes to join Donna at the control panel.

"Stop them!" Commands Davros "Get them away from the controls!"

The Daleks advance. Donna flicks yet another switch.

"And... spin."

The Daleks spin in circles.

"Help me. Help me." One gasps.

Jack chuckles - all the Daleks are spinning on the spot uncontrollably.

"And... the other way!" laughs Donna. She presses a button, turns a dial - and they spin the other way, their upper and lower halves facing in different directions.

"What did you do?" Rose asks in surprise.

"Trip-stitch circuit-breaker in the psycho-kinetic threshold manipulator."

The Doctor beams "But that's brilliant! Why did I never think of that?"

"Because you... were just Time Lord! You dumbo. Lacking that little bit of Human, that gut instinct that goes hand-in-hand with planet Earth. I could think of ideas that you couldn't dream of in a million years! Ah, the universe has been waiting for me! Now... let's send that trip-stitch all over the ship. Did I ever tell you-" Donna gestures to herself. "Best temp in Chiswick?" She wiggles her fingers in typing motion. "A hundred words per minute!"

"Ha!"

The Daleks are rolling around uncontrollably.

"System malfunction— Motor causing interference-" They state.

* * *

On the Bridge, the Supreme Dalek watches.

"What is happening? Explain!"

His Daleks spin around in small circles, screeching.

* * *

From the Vault, Jack darts into the TARDIS.

"Oi!" Donna bellows, as only Donna can "Come on then, Space-Man, we've got twenty-seven planets to send home. Activate magnetron."

"Stop it at once!" orders Davros. He is ignored.

Jack emerges from the TARDIS with his and Rose's guns. "Mickey!" He calls. He chucks a gun to Mickey.

"You will desist!" Davros continues.

Mickey halts Davros with a gun pointed in his face. "Just stay where you are, Mr."

"Out of the way!" Jack says loudly. He kicks a Dalek out of the way, sending it spinning off down a corridor. Rose and Sarah Jane push a Dalek away between them.

"Good to see you again!" Sarah Jane says cheerfully to Rose.

"Yeah, you too!" Rose replies.

The Dalek is sent flying off, babbling to itself - it thuds into the opposite wall. Martha pushes one away, too.

Donna poses a question to the Doctor. "Ready?" At his nod, she and the Doctors ease out two rods each on the controls. "And reverse!"

* * *

The planets disappear in flashes of light, one by one.

* * *

"Off you go, Clom." The Doctor laughs. "Back home, Adipose Three!"

"Shallacatop!" Donna shouts, flicking two switches with her hands, one with her foot. "Pyrovillia! The Lost Moon of Poosh. Topping." She smiles, turning to the Doctor and saying, "Ha!"

"Ha!" the Doctor returns.

* * *

The planets continue to disappear.

* * *

"Is anyone gonna tell us what happened? " Rose demands.

"You did." Donna states, "Or at least the Bad Wolf did. I was on the floor of the TARDIS. I raised her head, and then my eyes were swimming with golden light. I was saved. The Bad Wolf gave me a gift. To save me, she sort of took the part of the Doctor's life force that was in his hand – the one in the jar, and gave it to me."

"Donna is unique." The Doctor continues, "So much so that the timelines were converging on her. Human Being with a Time Lord brain. My sister."

"But you promised me, Dalek Caan." Cries Davros in despair, "Why did you not foresee this?"

Dalek Caan giggles.

"Oh, I think he did." The Doctor realizes, "Something's been manipulating the timelines for ages... getting Donna Noble to the right place at the right time."

"This would always have happened." Sings Dalek Caan, "I only helped her, Doctor. The Bad Wolf."

"You... betrayed the Daleks?" Davros asks in shock.

"I SAW the Daleks." Dalek Caan says, his voice becoming solemn. "What we have done throughout time and space. I saw the truth of us, Creator, and I decree "no more"."

* * *

"I will descend to the Vault!" announces the Supreme Dalek. "This shall be explained."

* * *

"Heads up!" Jack warns

The Supreme Dalek descends.

* * *

"Davros, you have betrayed us." Growls the Supreme Dalek.

"It was Dalek Caan!" Davros denies.

"The Vault will be purged!" Decrees the Supreme Dalek. "You will all be exterminated!" He sends a death ray towards the central column causing sparks to fly.

"Like I was saying," Jack shouts to the Supreme Dalek, "Feel this!" He uses his gun to blast the Supreme Dalek in half.

The Doctor examines the central column. "Oh, we've lost the magnatron! And there's only one planet left oh –" He laughs at how typical this is. "Guess which one. Look, we can use the TARDIS!"

He runs into the TARDIS. The Doctor rushes to the console, pressing various buttons.

While, in the Crucible, Donna is flicking switches. "Holding Earth stability... maintaining atmospheric shell."

"The prophesy must complete." Dalek Caan shrieks.

"Don't listen to him." Davros insists.

"I have seen the end of everything," Dalek Caan says. "The Bad Wolf showed me. I must make it happen, Doctor. Maximising Dalekanium power feeds. Blasting them BACK! "

The Daleks explode, one by one, screaming. The air is thick with shrieking Daleks.

"What've you done?" The Doctor gasps, horrified.

"I have fulfilled the prophesy Doctor." Dalek Caan responded.

* * *

The Dalek ships around the Crucible explode into nothingness.

* * *

The Dalek just outside the Time Lock explodes, as does the Time Lock itself. Ianto and Gwen shield their faces for a moment.

"There goes the Time Lock." Gwen remarks.

* * *

Everyone inside the Vault is sent flying around - The Doctor observes with a wild expression in his eyes.

"Do you know what's been done?" He shouted furiously, "Now, get in the TARDIS! Everyone! All of you inside, run! In, in, in, in, in!"

They run.

"Sarah Jane! Rose! Jackie! Jack! Mickey! Donna!" The Doctor ushers them in from inside the door. He squints through the fire.

"Davros?" The Doctor calls urgently. He holds out his hand. "Come with me! I promise I can save you!"

"Never forget, Doctor - YOU allowed this!" Davros accuses, "I name YOU, forever, YOU are the Destroyer of Worlds!"

He is engulfed by flames. He screams. He dies.

Over the noise, a voices sing-songs eerily. "One will still die."

The Doctor turns back to the TARDIS.

* * *

The Doctor runs to the unusually crowded console.

"And! Off we go!"

He pulls a lever. The TARDIS shudders as it starts and they all fall about, hanging onto the console for support. The Doctor raises his eyebrows at Sarah Jane and grins. She grins back.

Outside, The Crucible explodes into atoms. Nothing is left.

"But what about the Earth?" asks Sarah Jane anxiously, "It's stuck in the wrong part of space!"

"I'm on it." The Doctor replies, looking into the monitor. "Torchwood Hub, this is the Doctor. Are you receiving me?"

* * *

"Loud and clear." Gwen shouts. She smiles. "Is Jack there?"

The Doctor glances at Jack. "Can't get rid of him." He turns to Jack and, pointing at Gwen, asks "Jack, what's her name?"

"Gwen Cooper."

"Tell me, Gwen Cooper," The Doctor asks, "Are you from an old Cardiff family?"

* * *

Gwen and Ianto glance at one another.

Gwen doesn't see the relevance. "Yes. All the way back to the eighteen-hundreds."

* * *

The Doctor and Rose peer at her through the monitor in delight.

"Mm, thought so!" To Rose he comments "Spatial genetic multiplicity..."

"Oh, yeah!" Rose says appreciatively.

"Yeah, yeah! It's a funny old world!" He looks thoughtful for a moment, then snaps out of it.  
"Now, Torchwood, I want you to open up that Rift Manipulator - send all the power to me."

"Doing it now, sir." responds Ianto dutifully.

"What's that for?" Martha asks.

"It's a tow-rope." The Doctor says, looking at her as if she should have realized that already. Which she should have. "Now then, Sarah - what was your son's name?"

"Luke, he's called Luke. And the computer's called Mr Smith."

"Calling Luke and Mr Smith!" Announces the Doctor.

* * *

Luke jumps up from where he had been sitting dejectedly in the attic.

"Come on, Luke, shake a leg!"

"Is Mum there?" He demands anxiously.

"Oh, she's fine and dandy-"

* * *

Sarah Jane is laughing with relief to hear his voice. "Yes! Yes!"

"Now, Mr. Smith, I want you to harness the Rift power and loop it round the TARDIS, you got that?" The Doctor instructs.

"I regret I will need remote access to TARDIS basecode numerals." Drones Mr. Smith.

"Oh, blimey. That's gonna take a while."

Sarah Jane's face lights up, and she darts round to the monitor. "No, no, no. Let me! K-9, out you come!"

* * *

K-9 appears.

"Affirmative, Mistress!"

The Doctor laughs delightedly. "Oh, good dog! K-9, give Mr Smith the basecode!

"Master. TARDIS basecode now being transferred." The basecode is displayed on Mr Smith. "The process is simple."

* * *

"Now then, you lot" The Doctor says, turning to the Children of Time. He directs Sarah Jane back to her place, then begins issuing instructions. "Sarah - hold that. And Mickey - you hold that. Because, you know why this TARDIS is always rattling about the place? Rose - that, there." He indicates a control. "It was designed to have six pilots and I have to do it single handed. Martha - keep that level. But not anymore! Jack - there you go, steady that. Now we can fly this thing."

Jackie's next. He hesitates. "No, Jackie. No, no. Not you." He pats her shoulder. "Don't touch anything, just... stand back. - Like it's meant to be flown! We've got the Torchwood Rift looped around the TARDIS by Mr. Smith. We're gonna fly planet Earth back home." He takes his place at the console. "Right, then! Off we go."

He pulls a lever.

* * *

The Earth is quite literally being pulled along by the TARDIS, right out of the Medusa Cascade.

In Sarah Jane's attic, Luke clings to K-9, whooping with delight - the whole place shaking but not too violently. In the Torchwood Hub, Gwen and Ianto also hold on tight, cheering, plaster falling from the ceiling.

In the Nobles' living room, the light fittings shake, glasses smash - Wilfred and Sylvia hang onto one another.

In the Jones' house, Francine takes refuge from the tremor underneath the table, pieces of paper falling all around her.

* * *

The TARDIS speeds through space, Earth in tow.

It's hardly shaking at all as the Doctor and his friends work as a flawless team. The Doctor and Donna stroll around the console, watching them work.

The Doctor gestures to a button. "Rose."

Jack pumps a lever. Martha grins excitedly. Sarah Jane pushes a lever down slowly.

Donna is watching Jack. "That's really good, Jack. I think you're the best."

Jackie giggles. Donna joins The Doctor and they lean against a support, chuckling.

* * *

And finally, the Earth is set in its rightful position beside the Moon. The TARDIS drifts from it.

They all whoop and cheer - everyone hugs everyone - they're absolutely ecstatic. They've done it. Donna wrenches Sarah Jane away from Jack and throws her arms around him.

* * *

On Earth…

Sylvia opens the curtains - and screams in delight when the daylight floods in from outside. She and Wilfred throw their arms around one another and jump up and down for joy, cheering. BBC News 24 proclaims 'Earth Returns Home' - there's fireworks and celebrations all over the world.

Francine emerges, gazing up at the blue sky with a huge smile, spinning on the spot.

* * *

The TARDIS materializes in a park. The Doctor and Sarah Jane emerge, gazing around at the normality of their surroundings - not far away, a church bell rings.

"You know..." Sarah Jane comments, "You act like such a lonely man. But look at you! You've got the biggest family on Earth!"

The Doctor smiles. Sarah Jane holds her arms out to him and he hugs her tightly.

Sarah Jane continues, letting go suddenly and backing away. "Gotta go! He's only fourteen! It's a long story. And thank you!"

The Doctor smiles warmly and waves. She waves back and then she's gone, running down the path.

* * *

Everyone is milling around the TARDIS.

Donna is talking on her mobile. "Yeah, I'm fine…"

* * *

"Are you all right?" Jackie asks Mickey softly. He had been quiet ever since they let the Crucible

"I'm gonna miss you. More than anyone." He replies.

"What do you mean? The Doctor's gonna take us home, isn't he?"

"But that's the point."

Jackie understands. They hug.

* * *

Back in the park, The Doctor is disabling Jack's teleport with his sonic screwdriver. "I TOLD you, no teleport. And Martha, get rid of that Osterhagen thing, eh? Save the world one more time."

Martha smiles. "Consider it done."

Jack salutes the Doctor, as does Martha. He salutes back. Jack and Martha walk away, hand in hand.

"You know, I'm not sure about UNIT, these days. Maybe there's something else you could be doing..." Jack says casually.

The Doctor smiles after their retreating backs. Mickey emerges from the TARDIS.

"Oi! Where are you going?" The Doctor asks.

"Well, I'm not stupid-" Mickey smirked, "I can work out what happens next. And hey, I had a good time in that parallel world but my Gran passed away. Nice and peaceful. Spent her last years living in a mansion. There's nothing there for me, now. Certainly not Rose. She has you now."

"What will you do?"

"Anything!" He said! "Brand new life. Just you watch." They knock fists. "See you, boss." He winks, then runs to catch up with Jack and Martha. Martha had been hanging back, looking back over her shoulder at Mickey. Now, at his next words she smiled - "Hey, you two! Wait for me!"

Jack sighs in mock exasperation. "Oh... thought I got rid of you."

The Doctor turns back to the TARDIS.

* * *

The Doctor goes to the console. "There's time for one last trip." He says, "Dårlig Ulv Stranden. Better known as..."

* * *

The TARDIS materializes on the sand on a day just like before. Jackie emerges first, followed by The Doctor and Rose.

Jackie looks around then scoffs in disgust. "Ugh, fat lot of good this is! Back of beyond, bloody Norway! I'm gonna have to phone your father. He's on the nursery run."

Rose is looking around, wondering what she's doing here again. She doesn't want to be left behind.

Jackie turns to The Doctor "I was pregnant, do you remember? Had a baby boy!"

Donna steps outside. "Ah, brilliant! What did you call him?"

Jackie winks at everyone then says, "Doctor."

The Doctor is stunned. He stutters, not exactly sure what to say to this, "...really?"

"No, you plum. He's called Tony!" She laughs. She becomes serious again, "Hold on, this **is** the parallel universe, right?"

"Yes!" Rose laughs, "You're back home, Mum. You can go back to Dad and Tony."

"And the walls of the world are closing again..." Donna pipes in, "Now that the Reality Bomb never happened. It's dimension retroclosure." She looks at the Doctor. The Doctor smiles. "See, I really get that stuff now."

"But you're coming with me, right darling?" Jackie asks Rose, shocked.

Rose is completely bewildered. Close to tears. Determined.

"No, I spent all that time trying to find him, I'm not going back now!"

Jackie steps towards her. "But you've got to. Because he saved the universe, but at a cost. The worlds are closing." She looks bitterly at The Doctor, then back at Rose, "I'll never see you again. I don't want to be left on my own."

The Doctor is confused and a little angry. "You have Tony and Pete!"

"But it's better than that, Jackie." Donna says, "Don't you see what's been given to Rose? Tell her, go on." She orders The Doctor.

"Rose looked into the Time Vortex. No one's meant to do that." The Doctor says slowly – hesitantly. He turns to Rose, "You looked into the TARDIS and the TARDIS looked into you. The Bad Wolf. She may have created herself, but she also re-created you. The Bad Wolf has changed you, Rose."

"Which means?" Rose says weakly.

"She was so powerful that she changed your very biology. You're not fully human anymore. "Specifically the aging part. You'll never grow old. You may only have one life... Rose Tyler." Aa pause. A lingering look between them. "But you could spend it with me. If you want. Together. For all of our forever."

Rose puts a hand to his chest, feeling his two hearts beating. Jackie and Donna watch with small smiles.

A grinding sound from the TARDIS makes them all look around.

"We've gotta go. This reality's sealing itself off," Donna prods gently.

A tear rolls down Rose's cheek.

"Forever."

The Doctor and Donna turn back to the TARDIS. Rose goes after them.

"But it's still not right." Jackie calls.

They turn back. Rose looks at her.

"I will always love you Mum." Rose whispers, quietly exasperated. "But I love him too. I want to spend the rest of my forever with him."

"And I'll take care of her." The Doctor interjects.

"Doctor, answer me this." Jackie orders. The Doctor is apprehensive, but he and Rose stand on either side of her.

"When we last stood on this beach on the worst day of my daughter's life... what was the last thing you said to her?" Jackie's looking at the Doctor. "Go on, say it."

"He said, 'Rose Tyler'" Rose says.

Jackie looks at the Doctor expectantly. "Yeah, and how was that sentence going to end?"

The Doctor says as if he's in enough pain already. "Does it need saying?"

"What was the end of that sentence?" Jackie demands.

The Doctor puts his hand on Jackie's arm and leans down, whispering something into her ear. When he pulls away, we know what he must have said, because Jackie turns him around and pushes him gently towards Rose.

Rose pulls him towards her by the lapels of his suit and kisses him on the lips. Jackie swallows and turns away. Rose wraps her arms around The Doctor and he does the same to her, returning the kiss. The kiss ends, and they walk back to the TARDIS, never looking back.

When the door of the TARDIS closes, Jackie gives a small gasp. She runs towards it but it's already dematerializing and she can only watch it fade away.

* * *

Inside the TARDIS, The Doctor goes to Rose and slips his hand into hers. They look at one another. Donna adjusts the monitor, pottering around the controls. The Doctor is leaning against a support, and Rose has a sorrow in her eyes.

"I thought we could try the planet Felspoon..." Donna says conversationally. "Just 'cos. What a good name, 'Felspoon'. Apparently it's got mountains that sway in the breeze. Mountains that move. Can you imagine?" She twists a knob unnecessarily.

"And how do you know that?" The Doctor asks quietly.

"Because it's in your head! And if it's in your head, it's in mine."

"And how does that feel?"

"Brilliant!" Donna shouts, "Fantastic! Molto bene! Great bit of universe packed into my brain. You know you could fix that chameleon circuit if you just try and hotbind in the fragment links and superseding the binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary-" She takes a deep breath. "I'm fine!"

The Doctor straightens, brow furrowed, but in sadness rather than confusion.

"Nah, never-mind Felspoon." Donna babbles, "You know who I'd like to meet? Charlie Chaplin. I've heard he's great, Charlie Chaplin. Shall we do that? Shall we go and see Charlie Chaplin?" She picks up phone, speaks into it. "Shall we? Charlie Chaplin? Charlie Chester, Charlie Brown. No, he's fiction, friction, fiction, fixen, mixen, rixten, brixton-"

She gasps and doubles over as though winded. The Doctor goes to her. Donna is holding her head in her hands.

"Oh, my God." Rose screams.

"Do you know what's happening?" The Doctor asks her sadly.

Donna is unwilling to admit it, she does. "Yeah."

"There's never been a Human-Time Lord metacrisis before now. And you know why." The Doctor states in a low voice.

"Because there can't be." DONNA responds quietly, eyes moist. She averts her eyes from his, pretending to be busy with the controls. "I want to stay."

"Look at me." The Doctor says. She won't. "Donna, look at me."

She looks at him with a certain defiance.

Donna is shaking. "I was gonna be with you... forever. Like Rose."

"I know." THE DOCTOR whispers gently.

Rose looks on in sadness. "I'm so sorry." She says.

"The rest of my life..." Donna gasps, "Travelling... in the TARDIS. The Doctor-Donna." After a moment, it dawns on her what this means. "No. Oh, my God..."

She's shaking her head, backing away from him, eyes filling with tears.

"I can't go back. Don't make me go back. Doctor... please. Please, don't make me go back."

The Doctor looks into her eyes. He steps towards her and takes her by the shoulders. "Donna. Oh, Donna Noble. I am so, so sorry." She looks up at him, in a fearful panic, trembling. "But we had the best of times. The best.

Tears spill down her cheeks.

"No. No, please! Please! No, NO! No!" She begs him. "Please. Help me. The Chameleon Arch –fix it! Hide the Time-Lord part of me. Or the human part of me. Or just clear the memories of the Time Vortex from my mind. I know you can do it Doctor."

* * *

She whimpers in pain, clutching her head in pain.

Gold fills her vision.

She falls.

He catches her and just holds her for a moment, looking at her sadly.


	7. Chapter 6: An Ending, a Beginning

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.

A/N: For this chapter, spoilers are for the Doctor Who episode 4.13 – Journey's End. Events are slightly AU. Sorry for the late update… my great aunt died. It's been a kind of hard time, but I'm hoping to be back on a slightly-more regular posting schedule. Remember to review please. It is in no way an obligation, but you can if you want. xx

* * *

An Ending, a Beginning

There's a hammering on the door. Wilfred hurries to open it.

"Oh, that must be her! Donna?"

He laughs in relief until he opens the door. The TARDIS is on the other side of the road and the Doctor is sitting on the doorstep with Donna asleep in his arms.

"Help me." Whispers the Doctor urgently.

Wilfred bends down anxiously. "Donna? Donna?"

They go inside. Donna is laid down on her bed. The Doctor watches her, his hands in his pockets. A thunderstorm rumbles outside, golden lightning flashing.

* * *

"She took my mind into her own head. But that's a Time Lord consciousness." The Doctor is sitting on the sofa, explaining to Sylvia and Wilfred what has happened. "All that knowledge - it was killing her."

"But she'll get better, now?" Wilfred asks in a panic.

The Doctor avoids the question.

"I just want you to know that there are worlds out there, safe in the sky, because of her. That there are people living in the light, singing songs of Donna Noble, a thousand million light-years away... they will never forget her."

Wilfred's eyes are shining with tears.

The Doctor continues, his voice slightly hollow. "And for one moment... one shining moment... she was the most important woman in the whole wide universe."

"She still is. She's my daughter." Sylvia says shortly.

He stands abruptly. "Then maybe you should tell her that once in a while."

Footsteps coming down the stairs - Donna bursts in, breaking the moment.

"I'm home." She announces.

Wilfred and Sylvia rush to her, and pull her close.

* * *

It's dark and tipping with rain, the thunder still rumbling depressingly in background. The Doctor goes to the door, accompanied by Wilfred and Donna.

"Ah... you'll have quite a bit of this." The Doctor says, observing the weather. "Atmospheric disturbance. Still, it'll pass." He continues, speaking almost to himself. "Everything does."

Wilfred watches him a little anxiously. The Doctor turns and shakes his hand.

"Bye then, Wilfred. And Donna… Remember, you had a Time Lord consciousness in your head. That's not something that you can just get over. I'm sorry to leave you but, for now, you need to rest."

Donna nods. "I love travelling with you, but you're right. I do need a rest, and most importantly, I need to some time with my family."

The Doctor steps out into to the rain. "Be back soon." He says to her.

"You better be." She says.

Just as they turn away, she calls his name once more. "Doctor..." He turns back around. "What about you for now? Before you come back." Donna continues.

"It's fine. I'm fine." He says. A smile creeps his way onto his face, spreading until he's grinning as only the Doctor can. "I have Rose."

"I'll watch out for you, sir." Wilfred pipes in. "Every night, Doctor... when it gets dark... and the stars come out... I'll look up. I'll look up at the sky and think of you."

"Me too." Donna adds.

The Doctor and Donna stand there, in the rain.

"Thank you." The Doctor says.

He goes back to the TARDIS. Wilfred salutes it as it dematerializes. Donna smiles sadly. When the TARDIS is gone, she closes the door. For now, her part of the story is over.

* * *

The engine rises and falls gently. Besides this, the TARDIS is silent - the Doctor stands there, soaked, and so, so tired, but not alone. Never alone. Rose, Donna, all his friends and family are there, even though many are with him in spirit only.

Rose comes up behind him. She takes off his sodden jacket and looks up at the console for a moment, her hands in her pockets. The Doctor walks slowly around it, adjusting a few controls. He stops, leans on the console, and smiles. An ending, but a beginning.

* * *

The Bad Wolf smiles too. History has been changed once more, and this time it is for the better. But there are still troubling times ahead.

A cloud falls over Earth as another ending approaches.


	8. Chapter 7: The Children

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.

A/N: For this chapter, spoilers are for Torchwood: Children of Earth – Day 1. Events are slightly AU. A bonus chapter as an apology for the long wait and short last chapter! Remember to review please. It is in no way an obligation, but you can if you want. xx

* * *

**The Children**

In Cardiff, Wales, a clock tower shows the time. It is 8:40. It's a Cardiff city street. Gwen Cooper stands at a cash point.

"Come on, Tyler. Tyler, just stop it." A mother says exasperatedly to her son. "I haven't got time to muck around."

Gwen looks around. The mother stands in front of her son, who is dressed in school uniform. He stares into space as she tells him off. He's staring straight forward, not responding to anything.

"Tyler! All right, I'll just leave you there." The mother exclaims, throwing her hands in the air. At the cash point, Gwen grins. "Is that what you want? I'll just leave you? In the middle of town?"

"Suzette! Suzette, We're going to be late." A father cries from the opposite direction. Gwen looks on in surprise. Different parent and child - exact same reactions. An angry parent and a frozen child.

"Come on then, come on." The mother tugs her son's hand.

"Suzette! Stop it, you're just looking silly, d'you want other people to see you, looking silly?" The father shouts.

* * *

In the Davies house, outside Cardiff city, Mrs. Rhiannon Davies (née Jones) carries a laundry basket into kitchen, busy. She hasn't noticed yet: Two children, blue school uniforms, a boy - David and a girl - Mica, sit staring straight ahead and unresponsive. Kitchen table, plastic cover, breakfast food, Coco Pops ad with the monkey showing, nobody moving to eat.

"If he gives you any more trouble, your dad's going round his house to punch his face in. I'll punch his bloody mother. Have you got that, David?"

* * *

In the Frobisher house, a man comes down stairs talking, busy.

"I've booked the car for 7.30, but I might have to leave it on standby." Frobisher says. He walks into kitchen of rather more expensive décor. He talks to a woman, neither notices the kids. Two girls in green school uniforms, sitting staring and not eating.

"If Baxter starts talking, he never stops, so I can't guarantee what time." Frobisher continues, "I'll tell you what, I'll send you a text when I'm on the motorway." He walks past, ignoring his two daughters, who are sitting at a table set for breakfast. They pay no attention to any of it, and stare straight ahead, not blinking.

* * *

In the Carter house, a woman walks into the hall to find her child in red uniform, staring straight ahead.

" Steven!" Alice exclaims, "If you leave the front door open, those cats are going to get in." Silent staring. "Darling, don't just stand there, you're gonna be late." He's standing in the front doorway, not moving.

"Steven."

Nothing.

"Steven?"

* * *

A Cardiff street at a school crossing. Still kids stand in front of a truck. Middle of the road.

"Stop playing games! Get out of the way!" Rhys Williams calls from in the truck. Kids in the road. And the pavement. Crossing lady outside a school, and every kid in sight is still, every adult baffled.

"Oi!" Rhys shouts furiously, "I said bloody shift, man!"

* * *

In the Davies house, Rihannon has noticed her children. "David? Are you listening to me?" The kids still staring. "Mica? Oi, you two! Look at me!" Rhinnon looks at them, but receives no response.

* * *

At the Carter house, the same freeze… then a blink.

"See ya then!" Stephen says, suddenly moving as if nothing happened.

* * *

In the Cardiff streets, at the school crossing everyone moves again. Children run to cross the road.

Rhys lets out an incredulous "ha!"

* * *

At the Davies house, the kids unfreeze, and Rhiannon goes back to laundry.

"And you can shut up an' all, you were the one crying, you were like a baby, I seen you." David announces.

"Was not." Mica protests.

"Was."

"Was not."

* * *

In the Frobisher house, Mrs. Anna Frobisher says "You two, you're gonna be late."

"We're going! Look!" Holly announces.

"I'm going round to Polly's later, see ya, bye!" Lilly shouts.

* * *

In the Cardiff street, at the cash point again.

Tyler moves forward at last, his mother scolding him all the way "You are pushing it, you are, young man. Come on!" They walk off.

Suzette and her father walk past Gwen.

* * *

At the Cardiff bay outside the tourist door, Gwen is walking along on the water level. She stops and starts talking to a bloke up at the railing level.

"All right, Glyn?" She asks, "What's occurring?"

"I've been watching the bay. No sea monsters." He responds cheerfully.

"Ah, still early." Gwen laughs it off. Gwen goes in the Tourist office door.

In the main area of the Hub it is dark. The only light comes through the cog door as it rolls open or up through red emergency lights or alien whats its.

" Anyone in?" She calls, as she goes to switch near cog cage, lights on. "You two having shenanigans in the dark? Jack?"

Gwen goes to her desk. There's a picture of Tosh and Owen, well worn, taped to her desk. She touches Owen's nose and greets them softly. She sets up a computer search.

The computer makes noises. 'Searching: Children' appears on the screen, with the search progress bar going faster than you've ever seen. 'Crimint. Emergency services. Government information network. Hospital records. Local Authorities.'

* * *

In London, near the Houses of Parliament, a black car drives around a corner. A big red bus pulls up behind a little red bus. A woman gets off. She's half-running, and is obviously late. She hurries down the street as a black car pulls ahead.

The black car pulls up outside of the impressive doors of the Home Office. A man holds the car door open and Frobisher gets out.

"See you." Frobisher says half-heartedly.

"Yes sir." The driver replies.

Frobisher strolls in to the doors. The security guard stands up a little straighter outside. The woman is hurrying fast. She enters the building as well.

Frobisher walks into the room and sees a man in military uniform. "Oh, Christ." He says.

"Good morning, sir." His assistant says.

"Morning Bridget." He replies.

"Morning to you, too." Says the man in uniform.

"Colonel Oduya for you, sir." Bridget comments unnecessarily. "Unscheduled. I'd remind you, you've got the Category Meeting at quarter past."

"You'd better come through." Frobisher says to Oduya. He leads him into glass and blinds wall office, and closes the door.

"I'm late! I'm sorry! Oh, my God, I'm really, really sorry!" The woman from the bus huffs, out of breath.

"Good morning," Bridget says severely, "Bridget Spears."

"Lois Habiba."

"Right." Bridget says, leading Lois to the desk across from her own. "This will be your desk. You'll be helping me out while they introduce the new computer system."

* * *

Frobisher's office has a big arch and squares window in the back. It looks like a cage. Frobisher talks before he sits down.

"Just tell me it's something small." He begs, "Tell me it's a... It's a meteorite! Or a shadow on the moon. Just for once, tell me it's easy."

"Might be nothing, sir." Oduya replies, "But it's my job to inform the Government, even if it turns out to be a false alarm."

"Then what is it?"

"Children, sir. It's the children."

* * *

In the Hub, the Cog door opens. Ianto and Jack walk in, cheerful and joking.

"You are gonna get us killed!" Ianto complains laughingly.

"No, you get killed, not me." Jack counters, "You'd die like a dog, like an ugly dog!" A shining example of the Torchwood sense of humour.

"Oi, Chuckle Brothers." Gwen shouts from her computer, "I found something."

"Yeah, well I want a check on ..." Jack starts.

Gwen cuts him off, "Well, there's a computer, do it yourself."

Ianto chuckles. Jack takes his coat off and hands it to Ianto as Gwen talks.

"Meanwhile I've been getting reports this morning of 17 road traffic accidents, happening right across the country, all the way from Glasgow to St Ives." Gwen continues.

"Is that above average?" Jack goes to a computer and works.

"Well, they all occurred between 8.40 and 8.41. 17 road traffic accidents happening in exactly the same minute? And every single one of them involving children."

"That'll be the school run." Ianto comments.

" All of them were just standing in the road. Not crossing the road, just standing. I saw it myself, Jack. Two kids on Market Street. Well, they just stopped."

* * *

In Frobisher's office, Oduya is explaining the situation.

"But the accidents are just one part of a picture. Because every other child stopped at the same time. And not just in Britain."

* * *

"Same reports from France." Says Ianto. "15 road traffic accidents. All timed around 9.40. They're an hour ahead, so it was simultaneous."

"All involving children?"

"Yup. Hold on. Still Cross-referencing. Here we go. Reports coming in, RTAs in Norway. Sweden. Denmark. Luxembourg."

* * *

"Germany. India. Egypt. Guyana." Oduya lists.

* * *

"Spain. Portugal. Bosnia. Tokyo." Ianto continues.

* * *

"Singapore. At 8.40 GMT, most of America was asleep, but even there, we're beginning to get reports. I think we can assume it's all of them, sir. As far as we can tell, at 8.40 this morning, every single child in the world stopped." Oduya finishes.

* * *

"Seen anything like this before, Jack?"  
"No way. Kids?"

* * *

"Until we receive further information, we don't know if it's extraterrestrial in origin." Oduya states, "Though the United Nations has taken UNIT up to yellow alert, just in case."

"Bloody hell."

" You have two daughters, is that right?" asks Oduya.

"Yeah. Maybe I should get them home from school."

"I'd be careful, sir. I wouldn't do anything to draw any attention. Right now, this thing's random enough to go unnoticed, and if anyone files a news report, we'll be crushing it. But, so far, we're the only ones with the software clever enough to piece this all together. Well, us and Torchwood."

"D'you want me to talk to them? They're a pain in the backside, but they can be helpful."

"We're on to them, right now."

* * *

At the Hub, Jack is on the phone. "OK, find out anything, let me know immediately." He lowers phone as Gwen walks in. "Of all the times for Martha Jones to go on holiday. I get Sergeant Grunt. I'm talking to a sergeant!" He complains.

"Don't you dare phone her, she's on her honeymoon." Gwen threatens. "What did they say?"

"UNIT base in Washington has run some tests on a couple of kids. Brain scans, blood sugar, checking for radiation. Nothing." Jack and Ianto reorient so they're standing together.

"Call him. Your right kind of Doctor. We need him now." Gwen says. Then she walks outside of the Hub needing fresh air. Jack shuts himself in his office. Ianto looks at the monitor again.

* * *

As she sits at the edge of the fountain, Gwen tries to clear her head. A mother tugs on the arm of a child, who stands stock still.

"Shit!" Gwen gets up and runs over.

"Sasha, love, come on, look, I haven't got time." The mother says impatiently, "I've got to be in work."

Gwen yells into her phone, "Jack! Get up here! Right now! It's happening again! The children!"

* * *

Jack, in coat, runs out the door. "They're doing it again!" he shouts to Ianto. He falls in behind him.

"Are you all right?" Gwen asks worriedly.

"We're fine, she's just playing a game." The mother tries to dismiss it before turning back to her daughter. "Now come on, sweetheart, people are staring at you! …Sasha, stop it."

* * *

Across the world children stand still. Children at a road crossing, in schools, at home - everywhere - stand still and stare. Then, out of nowhere, a high-pitched scream.

* * *

Jack and Ianto run out of the Hub, rushing towards Gwen.

"What's she doing?" Jack demands, "What's that noise?"

"I don't know! I don't know. Where the hell is the Doctor?"

"Sasha! Stop it! Sasha! Please help her!"

"There's another one!" Jack shouts, spotting them across the street. Two kids in a school uniform, grey jumpers this time. Ianto starts filming them.

The screaming stops.

Then a chant rises over the world.

"We. We. We."

The children are speaking, but it is not their words.

"We are. We are. We are."

Then a chilling final word.

"We are coming."

"Oh, my God!" Gwen gasps, looking up in shock and fear. Gold glints mockingly off the Millennium Center.

* * *

"We are coming."


	9. Chapter 8: Four Five Six

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.

A/N: For this chapter, spoilers are for Torchwood: Children of Earth – Day 1. Events are slightly AU. An apology for the long wait and short last chapter! Remember to review please. It is in no way an obligation, but you can if you want. Xx

* * *

**Four Five Six**

The Home office is in panic.

"Who's got children?"Frobisher shouts. "Find me a kid, find me a bloody kid, now!"

* * *

In a mental hospital, the corridors are full of people running. The chanting is an emergency situation they are not prepared for.

"He won't stop, he keeps saying the same thing, over and over." A nurse whispers.

"We are coming." Not a child, but a man. A nurse starts filming him. "We are coming. We are coming."

* * *

The children continue their chorus "We are coming. We are coming."

* * *

"Sasha, please, my God!" Her mother begs.

"Who are you?" Gwen asks the children. "Who's coming?" Silence… the kid blinks.

* * *

In the schools, children start playing again. They return to their daily lives, unaware of the eerie, foreboding message they had just delivered. At the mental hospital, the man collapses after the chanting stops.

"You all right?" The nurse asks worriedly.

"They've found me."

* * *

The water outside tourist office is calm, though the office is anything but.

"Gwen, I'll get on to the Home Office." Jack calls, going through the door behind the desk. "This thing has gone public. They're gonna need us."

"Got it." Gwen nods.

* * *

Meanwhile, in Frobisher's office everyone is on the phones. More phones are ringing. Frobisher is walking and being talked at from all sides.

"I'm sorry, we've got no comment. Can we leave it for now?" Bridget says into her phone.

"I'm sorry, he's not seeing anyone at the moment." Lois says into hers.

A woman comes up to Frobisher, "The Home Secretary's demanding information, sir... and he'll liaise with UNIT."

"Anyone else, just tell them no, Bridget. No more calls." Frobisher goes in to his office and closes the door behind him. He throws a folder down in front of him and sits there staring.  
Outside the room, Bridget gets up from her desk and goes over to Lois with a post-it.

"I'll have to abandon the press list, can you set up an auto-reply?" she asks, "You'll have to get into my account, that's the username, spears, password Hastings, capital H, rest of it lower case."  
"Right."

Frobisher's head is his hands. A man walks in, head up and confident. He interrupts at least two people clustered around Bridget's desk. "Bridget, I want to see Mr Frobisher."

The conversation stops. A pregnant pause, then Bridget gets up.

"Will you excuse me, please. I'll tell him you're here, Mr. Dekker." She knocks, then opens Frobisher's office door. "Sir?"

He doesn't even look up. "I said, no-one."

"Mr Dekker, sir." She gets out the way. Dekker walks in. He sits down. Frobisher only slowly looks at him.  
"Four. Five. Six." Dekker says quietly, "I warned you.".

* * *

In the Hub Computer area, Jack is on the phone with Frobisher's office. "Just Tell him it's Captain Jack Harkness, he'll take the call."

"I'm sorry, I can't. If you could just leave your number or..." Lois replies

"Tell him it's Torchwood."

"Right, and how do you spell that?" Lois asks.

"You're working for the Home Office and you've never heard of Torchwood?"

"I'm new. Started today." She admits.

"Just what I need!" Jack exclaims in exasperation, "Sorry. Not your fault. You picked a hell of a day. Listen. Just tell him Torchwood, we might be able to help, OK? What was your name?"

"Lois, Lois Habiba."

"Good luck to you, Lois Habiba." He hangs up.

* * *

Lois looks at the phone and puts it down. She turns to computer log system. She Types in Name Captain Jack Harkness, Company Torchwood. A notice appears.

"Red flag! Click flag: Classified Security Level Two." Lois looks at Bridget then at the post-it note and types in the password on it. Displayed on her monitor, she sees a report.

"Government Information Network

**TORCHWOOD**

Founded by HRH Queen Victoria in 1879 its prime purpose is to defend the Earth against extraterrestrial threat.

Initially established as an institute to investigate matters of the paranormal and extraterrestrial, the organisation has developed over the years in both activity and constitution and is currently operating as a remote team working from Torchwood 3 – Cardiff.

Funded directly and independently by the Crown, Torchwood was established by order of decree. Torchwood is not beyond the Government however, with her Majesty stating that "Torchwood is also to administer to the Government thereof in our name, and generally to act in our name and on our behalf, subject to such orders and regulations as Torchwood shall, from time to time, receive from us through one of our Principal Secretaries of state." The Torchwood Charter, Dec 31st 1879.

However, Torchwood operates almost completely independently and sometimes even contrary to Her Majesty's Government, and have come to function as a somewhat separate body in recent years, a double edged sword by some accounts.

**Organisation**

Originally established at the MacLeish Estate in Aberdeenshire some 130 years ago, the organisation has since found homes in Glasgow, London and Cardiff although Torchwood 2 in Glasgow is thought to have disbanded and Torchwood 1 in London is now defunct following the Battle of Canary Wharf, during which the base was subject to an alien confrontation in which most of its agents perished.  
Torchwood 3, located in Cardiff Bay is thought to be the last operational Torchwood post although there are still some private acquisitions which Queen Victoria herself made that are unbeknownst to us..."

Lois stops reading, shocked. Frobisher walks past her, heading to his car.

* * *

Frobisher is driven across London, then towards Thames House. The car into an underground car park with a security door. A police officer with an actual gun goes to stand in the door while it closes.

Dekker and Frobisher walk down a corridor. "Been a while since we had visitors down here." Dekker comments, "Thought you'd forgotten about us. It's hardly the glamorous side of Thames House, my little domain."

Dekker leads Frobisher to a particular area, crowded with equipment. "We converted the readings onto digital, years ago, but I kept the original equipment. Call it nostalgia. Then this morning it woke up. 8.40, and again at 10.30, transmitting on the 456." He explained. Dekker presses a button on the nostalgic equipment. The room fills with a horrible screeching and groaning. "Just five seconds in duration. But that's enough."

"What's it saying?" Frobisher asks, his face pale.

"Well, I think it's a burst of compressed information. I'm running it through the translators, might take a while. But the point is, the 456 was open."

"But why would they change?"

"That's your job, to find out."

"I'll have to tell the Prime Minister."

"Elected officials? They just come and go. The 456 was here before him, it'll be here long after he's gone. And so will we. The Civil Service, John, the cockroaches of government." Dekker says.

"Have you got kids?" Frobisher demands.

"Too busy working. Turns out to be a Godsend."

* * *

At Torchwood, Jack has started to figure out what is happening. "So I think it's a transmission, a pulse, a broadcast."

"Like the Mosquito alarm – the one that only kids can hear." Ianto clues in.  
"Something unique to prepubescents." Jack continues. "Maybe testosterone interferes with the signal, and oestrogen..."

"Oh, no, no, no, hold on." Gwen says, halting their conversation. "We're being dumbos, we're missing the bleedin' obvious here, look."

On the computer, a Taiwanese child is speaking "We are coming. We are coming."

"Recorded in Taiwan." Gwen points out. "The point being, anyone?"

"It's English. They're speaking English."

"Exactly! And all the footage is the same. So every single child in the whole wide world is speaking English, so why's that?"

"I guess if you scanned the Earth from the outside, you'd register English as the dominant language." Jack guesses.

"Actually that would be Chinese - well, Mandarin. There's about a billion people speaking Mandarin. That's three times more than English." A voice corrects him from the doorway.

Everyone spins around, to find a tall skinny man in a suit standing there with a smug grin on his face.

"Thank God! Doctor, you always did have the best timing."

"He knows." A second voice comes, and Rose saunters in behind the Doctor. She takes his hand. "Don't encourage him. His head'll explode."

"Oi" The Doctor complains.

"Rosie!" Jack shouts gleefully, running up to her and hugging her. He lifts her off her feet.

"Jack! Put me down!" Rose laughs. He does.

Ianto comes over.

"Doctor, nice to see you again. Unfortunately, it's not in much better circumstances than the first time we met." Ianto says, shaking his hand.

"Ianto Jones!" The Doctor exclaims, "Good to see you. Right. What have you stupid apes done now?"

"This."

A video plays. The cogs start turning in the Doctor's head.

"We need a child." The Doctor says, "If I can get a child, I can scan them using the sonic screwdriver. We need to test those frequencies. Find the right frequency, and we can find out who's transmitting."

"Where d'you get a child, though?" Ianto asks, "I could find you lasers and weevils and hitchhikers. But kids..."

On the other computer, Gwen is searching through the database. "Oh, my God." Gwen gasps, "OK, ready? So every single child in the world is talking in unison, yeah? Every single child... And one man."

On the computer, a different video is playing. A man chanting "We are coming. We are coming."

"What the hell? Who's he?" Jack exclaims.

"Name's Timothy White. He's a patient in a psychiatric ward at the Duke Of York Hospital, East Grinstead."

"How did you get this footage?" The Doctor asks, running over.

"Staff e-mailed it to the police." Gwen says, "But every police force is swamped with mums and dads going absolutely mental, so it's just waiting in line. I reckon no-one else has noticed him yet."

"East Grinstead." The Doctor "That's what, two hours?"

"On it!" Rose says, jumping up out of her seat.

* * *

Rhys is on the phone, standing in front of a pretty cottage with a FOR SALE sign.

"I know I promised, shut up." Gwen sighs over the phone, "Change of plan."

"Oh, s'all right, I thought you'd be busy. 'We are coming!'" He laughs.

Gwen is driving in the fast lane of the motorway, Rose in the backseat and the Doctor beside her. Other cars rush past, going the other way. Probably mums and dads rushing home from work to get to their children.

"But what's it like?" She asks into the phone.

"The estate agent hasn't turned up." Rhys goes in the gate to have a poke around. "Fair dos, she's probably got kids. So, what do you think's causing it?"

"I can't say. Top secret."

"You haven't got a clue, have you?"

"No idea."

"Tell you what," Rhys says, "It looks nice from the outside. And I reckon we could knock ten grand off the asking price. Three bedrooms. One could be a nursery."

"Oh, stop it!"

"One day!" Rhys says, "About what's happening with the children though."

"Hold on Rhys, I'll just put you on speakerphone." She presses a button. "There."

"Thing is I was thinking, right?" He says, "Those kids went off at 8.40, when everyone's on their way to school, then at 10.30, that's break time. It's like it was timed. You know? So you'd get maximum kids out in the open, visible to everyone."

"Suppose." Rose says thoughtfully.

"Yeah, but that means it's timed around Britain. Specific British hours, yeah? It might be worldwide, but I reckon someone's looking right at us."

"That's brilliant. That is brilliant, you're not bad, you, are you?" The Doctor says.

"He's bloody superb." Gwen says proudly. "Oh my God, we have to tell the others. Oh, we've got to go - we'm going into England!"

"Good luck! Have you got currency?"

"Yes, and I've had my injections! See ya!"

Her smile fades the second she hangs up.

* * *

In the Prime Minister's Office, Frobisher is sitting in one of the leather chairs. He perches on the front edge of his seat. Waiting. The PM reads. Frobisher looks tense. Big Ben strikes.

"When I was a kid," The Prime Minister says, "it was the bomb. Iron Curtain. Reds under the bed. It was all so bloody simple. Now it comes raining down from the skies. Made of metal, stinking green and God knows what. I find myself running a country under siege from above."

"What d'you recommend that we do?"

"You tell me."

"Given that this is now worldwide, Prime Minister, it might be best if certain historical events were taken off the record."

"So Britain gets a clean sheet?"

"Yes, sir."

"How do we know if these...what do we call them?" asks the Prime Minister.

"The 456. They never gave a name. We just called them the 456 after the frequency allocation." Frobisher explains.

"Then how do we know that the 456 will keep quiet?"

"We don't."

A heavy silence falls on the room. After a long moment, Frobisher speaks again.

"You'll have to issue a Blank Page."

"No." The Prime Minister says sharply. A pause.

"Then, what do we do?"

"I'm not having my name on this. You never told me. I was never a part of it. I never knew. Is that understood?" He orders Frobisher. His eyes are dark, and he is scared, though he tries to hide it.

"Yes, sir. Then I take it that that leaves the Blank Page with me?"

"Just don't tell me about it."

* * *

In Cardiff, Captain Jack Harkness exits the Hub, closing the door behind him – his phone already to his ear. He strides into the street.

"Captain Jack Harkness. Torchwood. You've got a children's ward, haven't you? I need a kid."


End file.
